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