Proposed ID cards cause UK concern

By OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT

London

June 8: The Labour government’s compulsory identity card came in for criticism by members of Parliament as a committee warned that they could be used to carry out surveillance on people.

The House of Commons home affairs select committee, which published its report A Surveillance Society? on Sunday, said it was concerned that spying would creep into the way the authorities use sensitive data gathered in the identity card programme.

The scheme, which will start its first stage later this year, will eventually hold details on every citizen and foreigner in Britain over the age of 16.

Urging the government to limit the data it collects on citizens for its ID card scheme, the committee also asked for a guarantee that the identity card scheme will not be expanded without parliamentary approval.

The committee said although it accepted the government’s assurance that the scheme would not be used as a surveillance tool, it still sought " further assurance that any initiative to broaden the scope of the scheme will only be proposed after consulting the information commissioner and on the basis that proposals will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny in draft form."

The committee also urged the government to draw up a "broad outline of contingency plans" to deal with any potential security breach in the identity cards programme.