Security fears over biometric ID card

Four out of five UK citizens are in favour of a biometric identity card, according to the Home Office, but critics warn the cards will face security problems and be difficult to implement.

The Home Office and the UK Passport Service are conducting trials of smart cards that hold iris scans (Computing 12 December).

Some 81 per cent of the 450 people involved say they are in favour of its use, and 64 per cent say they are in favour of a scheme where everyone needs a card to access government services.

Home Office Minister Lord Falconer said at a Privacy International conference last week that the cards could cut fraud, tackle illegal working and immigration, and improve access to government services.

He says facial recognition, fingerprints and iris scans are all being considered as potential biometrics, but admits no system would be completely secure: 'We recognise there are risks but if you don't have these databases you have worse problems.'

Peter Lilley MP, former Conservative Secretary of State for Social Security, who tried to introduce benefits smart cards in the 1990s, says the project is too ambitious.

'If the government cannot get a payment card to work for benefits recipients, how can they get a card to work for 60m people?'

Dr Ross Anderson of the Computing Laboratory at Cambridge University says there is a danger in giving any one supplier control over the project.

'The company that gets the franchise will have the UK over a barrel.'