The UK has no official strategy to address the increased terrorist threat, unlike the hastily-created US Department of Homeland Security.

But the government is introducing a number of schemes focusing on information sharing, authentication and identity on the basis that an increased threat justifies increased security. And they all rely on technology:

Scope

A multi-million pound scheme being developed by the Cabinet Office Intelligence and Security Secretariat to share intelligence information between nine government agencies.

Identity / Entitlement cards

Home Secretary David Blunkett last week announced plans to introduce a national identity card this autumn. It will not be compulsory to carry the card but all adults will have to register details including name, address, date of birth, sex, employment status, and national insurance, passport and driving licence numbers.

The cards will carry a photograph and biometric information such as an iris scan or electronic fingerprint. They will have a PIN or password to authorise transactions and could be used to access government services requiring authentication, such as benefits payments.

Blunkett claims entitlement cards are part of the Home Office strategy to clamp down on illegal immigrants.

In January, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas told Computing he had two main questions about ID cards.

'What levels of data quality are regarded as acceptable? How do you ensure that people cannot forge cards, or that cards do not have mistakes? Secondly, what safeguards will be introduced to prevent function creep? We would not want to see the cards gradually start to include information on race or political views, nor powers given to the police to arrest those without a card,' said Thomas.

National database

It will not be compulsory to carry an entitlement card, but all adults will be required to register their details and biometric information on a national database to support it. It is not yet clear how that information will be collected or what the penalties for avoidance will be.

Asylum seekers smart card

The Application Registration Card (Arc) scheme was launched in January 2002. Asylum applicants are issued with a smartcard with a photograph and electronic fingerprint, as well as their name, date of birth and nationality. A secure updateable chip is used for extra data such as the cardholder's address.

The plan was introduced to cut down on fraud and illegal working, according to the Home Office. The card replaced the easily-forgeable paper Standard Acknowledgement Letter that used to be issued to asylum applicants.

Data sharing

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and the Passport Agency hope that sharing data will speed up applications for driving licenses. The scheme was announced in February and will rely on the consent of the applicant to overcome laws prohibiting the use of information for purposes other than that it was collected for.

But Passport Agency plans to use the DVLA's more accurate address database for developing a renewal notification service have stalled because of data protection issues.

Both agencies are closely involved with the government's wider entitlement card schemes because their databases could be used as the basis for the national system.

Smart passports

The Passport Agency plans to put biometric chips on passport cards by 2005. All new applications will be issued with the card. The agency has been running trials of smart cards holding iris scans since last year and is to run another six-month trial to look at iris scans, facial recognition and fingerprint technology.

Eurodac

The Europe-wide fingerprint ID system to track asylum seekers was launched by the European Commission in January. The system registers and compares the fingerprints of asylum seekers and certain categories of illegal immigrants arriving in 14 EU member states.

Participating countries take the fingerprints of all adult asylum seekers, which are compared with data from participating countries held in a central database. If the fingerprint is already held, the asylum seeker is returned to the country where their prints were initially taken.

The system contains no other information apart from the biometric data.