Security management Toolkit

Story: Home Office aims to drive down cost of ID cards

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Hillier is missing the whole point

Meg Hillier MP says 'the public was largely supportive of the National Identity Scheme, many people had concerns about the fee involved' and then goes on to say 'most of the cost of the scheme was created not by the cards themselves, but by databases and supporting systems'

Surely even someone of minimal intelligence can see therefore, that the most effective way to reduce the cost is to eliminate the central ID cards database - the most expensive part of the system accrding to Hillier and exactly the part of the system which people are concerned about.

I have yet to see even an attempted justification by the government, or indeed anyone else, for the presence of the central database in the ID cards system.

It's not a matter of ensuring the central database is secure enough. If data exists, and someone desires to obtain it, a way can always be found, however secure the IT systems may be. The only 100% reliable way to ensure the data in the central ID cards database cannot be stolen is to ensure there is no central ID cards database.

Meg Hillier's statement is another example of the government trying to fool the public into thinking they are addressing people's concerns by distracting the public with details of some minor area, while ignoring the major problems.

If the statement that 60% of the population are in favour of the whole ID cards system as planned by the government, it can only be because the government's PR has succeeded in this respect.

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