[IP] The LSE Report on the proposed UK ID Card schem
Begin forwarded message:
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 5, 2005 11:10:22 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The LSE Report on the proposed UK ID Card schem
Dave:
The parliamentary committee stage of UK Government's Identity Card
Bill starts today, so there has been a lot more on radio and TV and
in the newspapers about it, though the general consensus is that the
Government's plans will be much more at risk when the debate reaches
the House of Lords.
Much of the public debate has been fuelled by the report that has
been very recently-released by the London School of Economics, but
the main focus has been on cost estimates. What has not been evident
to me before is how detailed the LSE Report is, and in particular,
that it is not just a critique of the Government's scheme, but that
it also "considers alternative models for an identity card scheme
that may achieve the goals of the legislation more effectively."
I don't recall seeing anything on IP which pointed to the actual
detailed report.
Anyway, here is the (318-page) full report:
http://is.lse.ac.uk/idcard/identityreport.pdf
and here is a (10-page) Exec Summary:
http://is.lse.ac.uk/idcard/identitysummary.pdf
in which one can find the following one page Summary of Conclusions:
The Report concludes that the establishment of a secure national
identity system has the
potential to create significant, though limited, benefits for
society. However, the
proposals currently being considered by Parliament are neither safe
nor appropriate.
There was an overwhelming view expressed by stakeholders involved in
this Report that
the proposals are too complex, technically unsafe, overly
prescriptive and lack a
foundation of public trust and confidence. The current proposals miss
key opportunities
to establish a secure, trusted and cost-effective identity system and
the Report therefore
considers alternative models for an identity card scheme that may
achieve the goals of
the legislation more effectively. The concept of a national identity
system is
supportable, but the current proposals are not feasible.
Many of the public interest objectives of the Bill would be more
effectively achieved by
other means. For example, preventing identity theft may be better
addressed by giving
individuals greater control over the disclosure of their own personal
information, while
prevention of terrorism may be more effectively managed through
strengthened border
patrols and increased presence at borders, or allocating adequate
resources for
conventional police intelligence work.
The technology envisioned for this scheme is, to a large extent,
untested and unreliable.
No scheme on this scale has been undertaken anywhere in the world.
Smaller and less
ambitious systems have encountered substantial technological and
operational problems
that are likely to be amplified in a large-scale, national system.
The use of biometrics
gives rise to particular concern because this technology has never
been used at such a
scale.
We estimate the likely cost of the ten-year rollout of the proposed
identity cards scheme
will be between £10.6 billion and £19.2 billion, with a median of
£14.5 billion. This
figure does not include public or private sector integration costs,
nor does it take into
account possible cost overruns.
Any system that supports critical security functions must be robust
and resilient to
malicious attacks. Because of its size and complexity, the identity
system would require
security measures at a scale that will result in substantially higher
implementation and
operational costs than has been estimated. The proposed use of the
system for a variety
of purposes, and access to it from a large number of private and
public sector
organisations will require unprecedented attention to security.
All identity systems carry consequential dangers as well as potential
benefits.
Depending on the model used, identity systems may create a range of
new and
unforeseen problems. These include the failure of systems, unforeseen
financial costs,
increased security threats and unacceptable imposition on citizens.
The success of a
national identity system depends on a sensitive, cautious and
cooperative approach
involving all key stakeholder groups including an independent and
rolling risk
assessment and a regular review of management practices. We are not
confident that
these conditions have been satisfied in the development of the
Identity Cards Bill. The
risk of failure in the current proposals is therefore magnified to
the point where the
scheme should be regarded as a potential danger to the public
interest and to the legal
rights of individuals.
cheers
Brian
--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon
Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
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