Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Proposed ID cards cause UK concern

Proposed ID cards cause UK concern
================================================================================
NewsByte on 08 June, 2008 02:02:27
 
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.