WIREDGOV

Young people get online to share their views on identity cards with the Home Secretary

HOME OFFICE News Release (128/2008) issued by The Government News Network on 9 July 2008

A debate with young people on identity cards was kick started by the Home Secretary today as part of preparations for offering cards to over-16s from 2010.

At an event today at Shooters Hill College in Greenwich she launched a specially designed website to discuss the national identity scheme with young people. The MyLifeMyId.org site, which aims to explore young people's views on proving identity and using identity cards, will go towards helping to produce a card which best suits their needs.

Young people currently face challenges when proving their identity, including their age, and will see real day-to-day benefits from a single, secure nationally recognised proof of identity.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:

"We see identity cards delivering real benefits to young people which is why their opinions on the cards and how they might use them are so important. We want as many young people as possible to sign up for the scheme by making it as useful as possible.

"When introduced from 2010 identity cards will make it easier for young people to prove who they are whether opening a bank account, enrolling at college or proving whether they are entitled to get into pubs and clubs.

"Identity cards containing fingerprints will give young people greater assurance against identity theft while helping fight illegal working, immigration abuse and the link between multiple identities and serious crimes like terrorism."

The website will ask young people to give their views on a variety of subjects including: when they are asked to prove their identity; whether they worry about identity theft; whether they have posted personal details on social networking sites; and how much they trust the Government with their data.

The online survey will also be asking young people about proving their age, which will complement findings published by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) today looking at attitudes towards existing proofs of age. The findings show:

* 63 per cent support the idea of a nationally recognised form of identity to prove age;

* four out of five young people support being asked for identity when buying age restricted goods; and

* half of young people currently prefer to use driving licences to prove their age (with 62 per cent saying it is because they are easiest to carry and 57 per cent because they are nationally recognised).

The first identity cards will be issued to foreign nationals in November followed by identity cards for workers in sensitive roles and locations like airports next year.

Voluntary identity cards will be offered to young people from 2010 and in 2011/12 large numbers of the British public will be able to chose to sign up for the scheme.

By using facial and fingerprint checks the National Identity Scheme will give us a secure way of linking people to their own true identity. This link will prevent people enrolling multiple identities and will allow individuals, business, and the state to prove identity more securely, conveniently and efficiently while protecting personal information from abuse.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The survey will ask young people aged 16 to 25 who live in the UK to register with the site answer a series of questions over a three month period. IPS will use the survey findings to help shape the identity card being developed for young people. The survey can be found at http://www.MyLifeMyId.org

2. A film of young people giving their views on identity cards, featuring the Home Secretary, can be found on the http://www.MyLifeMyId.org website.

3. The Ipsos/Mori research around Proof of Age can be found at http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/publications-research.asp

4. Details of the National Identity Scheme can be found in the National Identity Scheme Delivery Plan 2008 at http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/publications-corporate.asp

5. The latest public opinion research shows support for the scheme remains stable at 59 per cent. The research can be found at http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/publications-research.asp

6. See below for key myths about the National Identity Scheme.

KEY MYTHS:

All my data will be on one big government database

No it won't. The Register will not be an amalgamation of every existing government database. Unique characteristics such as fingerprints will be held, but only core personal identity information needed to prove your identity such as name, nationality, age, address and gender will be on the National Identity Register - information that is already required for issuing passports.

Hackers will get into the system and be able to steal it.

No they won't. It will incorporate a host of anti-forgery features. Personal data will be held across three databases. It will be a criminal offence for any employee to make an unauthorised disclosure of information from the Register (penalty 2 years in prison) and for anyone to tamper with the Register (penalty 10 years in prison).

Sensitive personal data will be held

No it won't. The National Identity Register will hold basic biographical information link to your face and fingerprints to create a single unique identity to help you verify your identity securely.

Unrelated personal information such as religious or political beliefs, your ethnicity, your occupation, criminal, tax or medical records will NOT be held. Government pension, driving licence, tax and health records will continue to be held separately - not on the Register.

The card itself will hold the same personal information as the personal data page on a passport. This would be:

- your picture,
- your name,
- your gender,
- your place and date of birth,
- an issue and expiry date,
- your unique National Identity Register number,
- your nationality and immigration status (as appropriate)
- 2 fingerprints (on the chip, protected from being read inappropriately by encryption)

You can go to prison for not having one

No you can't. Further legislation will be needed before it can be compulsory to have an ID card. Then there will be civil financial penalties which could be applied for failure to notify changes of name or address or failure to notify a lost or damaged ID card. However, these are civil penalties that will be enforced in the civil courts in the same way as debts and so there is no possibility of being imprisoned.

The police can demand to see my ID Card so I'll have to carry it with me all the time

No they can't, and there will be no requirement to carry the card all the time. In fact the Identity Cards Act 2006 specifically prohibits making the carrying of an ID card compulsory.

The vast majority of the British public are against ID Cards

No they're not. Independently conducted polls consistently show strong public support for ID Cards. Research that we are publishing today shows public support for the Scheme at 59%. The British Social Attitudes Report published in January 2007 shows that 71% of people think that having compulsory identity cards for all adults is "a price worth paying" to help tackle the threat of terrorism.

ID Cards could just be scrapped and the money spent on something else

No they can't. ID Cards are like passports - a fee will be charged that will cover the cost of producing it. If there is no ID Card, then there is no money to spend on anything else. Also most of the development costs will need to be incurred in any event on security enhancements needed for passports.

ID cards will breach human rights

No they won't. A new National Identity Scheme Commissioner will be appointed to oversee the Scheme, the uses to which ID cards are put, and the confidentiality and integrity of information held on the Register. The Commissioner's reports will be laid before Parliament and published. Within Europe 24 out of 27 EU members states already have ID card schemes.

ID cards can't help fight terrorism and crime?

No-one has ever claimed ID cards are the complete answer to terrorism or crime. But they will help tackle illegal working, money laundering and benefit fraud. Criminals and terrorists are known to use multiple identities to avoid detection and hide their activities. (Al-Qaeda's own training manual requires its operatives to acquire false identities to hide their terrorist activities.) ID cards will make it much harder to use false or multiple identities by securely linking a person's unique identity to the national identity register using biometrics such as fingerprints.

An ID Card is going to cost me £300

This figure is complete nonsense. We intend that the fee for an identity card in 2009 & 2010 will be £30 or less