UK Scrapping National IDs

[Dave Farber <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Sam Waltz <samwaltz () member mensa org>
> Date: May 28, 2010 12:00:51 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: UK Scrapping National IDs

> Hi Dave,
>
> For your interesting people list:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8707355.stm
>
> ID card scheme 'axed in 100 days'
>
> The National Identity Card scheme will be abolished within 100 days
> with all cards becoming invalid, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.
>
> Legislation to axe the scheme will be the first put before parliament
> by the new government - with a target of it becoming law by August.
>
> The 15,000 people who voluntarily paid £30 for a card since the 2009
> roll out in Manchester will not get a refund.
>
> Ms May said ID card holders would at least have a "souvenir" of the scheme.
>
> TIMELINE
> # July 2002: Plans unveiled
> # November 2004: ID cards bill
> # March 2006: Act becomes law
> # November 2009: Cards available
> # May 2010: Scheme scrapped
>
> The Labour scheme was aimed at tackling fraud, illegal immigration and
> identity theft - but it was criticised for being too expensive and an
> infringement of civil liberties. The cards were designed to hold
> personal biometric data on an encrypted chip, including name, a
> photograph and fingerprints. The supporting National Identity Register
> was designed to hold up to 50 pieces of information.
>
> The cards already in circulation will remain legal until Parliament
> has passed the legislation to abolish them and the register. The short
> abolition bill will be pushed through Parliament as quickly as
> possible with the aim of cards being invalid by 3 September.
>
> Anyone who has a card or has to deal with them, such as airport
> security officials, will be told the termination date in writing. Once
> the cards are illegal, the National Identity Register will be
> "physically destroyed", say ministers. Some 60 people who were working
> on the scheme for the Identity and Passport Service in Durham have
> lost their jobs.
>
> Ms May said: "This bill is a first step of many that this government
> is taking to reduce the control of the state over decent, law-abiding
> people and hand power back to them. With swift Parliamentary approval,
> we aim to consign identity cards and the intrusive ID card scheme to
> history within 100 days."
>
> £800m saving
>
> Officials are renegotiating two contracts worth £650m with companies
> who had agreed to deliver parts of the scheme. It's not clear how much
> the government will need to pay compensation, but officials say there
> is no "poisoned pill" in the deals and they expect to save £86m once
> all exit costs are met.
>
> 'DON'T TAKE AWAY MY ID'
> “ I paid £30 for this identity card and I certainly would have paid
> £75 for it because of the advantages it has given me ”
> John Kirby, one of the 15,000 ID cardholders
>
> Some £250m was spent on developing the national ID programme over
> eight years and its abolition will mean the government will avoid
> spending a further £800m over a decade.
>
> Former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett unveiled plans for an
> identity card scheme in July 2002. By February 2010, the scheme's
> costs over its lifetime had ballooned to an estimated £4.5bn.
>
> Despite the demise of the national identity card, a separate but
> technically similar scheme for some foreign nationals will continue.
>
> That scheme, run by the UK Border Agency, is still being rolled out.
> Immigration minister Damian Green said the scheme was an EU obligation
> and that the previous Labour government had rolled it into the main ID
> card programme.
>
> Some 200,000 of these cards, now known as biometric resident permits,
> have already been given to migrant workers, foreign students and
> family members from outside the European Economic Area.
>
> British passports are about to be upgraded to a new international
> security standard but additional proposals to put more biometric
> information on in the future have also been axed.
>
> Story from BBC NEWS:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8707355.stm
>
> Published: 2010/05/27 11:54:47 GMT
>
> © BBC MMX



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