Biometric ID cards will do little to combat identity theft,
fraud or terrorism, the Institute for the Management of Information
Systems will tell the government next week.
Imis, which represents 14,000 IT professionals in the UK, will
argue that the government's real priority should be tightening
identity checks before issuing passports and driving
licences.
In a formal response to the Home Office's draft Identity Card Bill,
Imis will claim that biometric ID cards are unlikely to be any
better at protecting against fraud, terrorism or reducing crime
than the non-biometric cards used in other countries.
Imis said the real problem is that current system of issuing
passports and driving licences - which will form the basis of the
ID card scheme - is open to abuse. The institute believes this
raises questions about their value for establishing identity.
"ID cards are no great shakes," said Philip Virgo, strategic
advisor at Imis. "What the government needs to do is have proper
validation for issuing passports. The government needs to validate
its own ID checks."
Imis will call for the government to introduce tough penalties for
anyone who changes or forges information used to establish
identity, even when no apparent fraud has been committed.
This should include stiff penalties for civil servants with
authorised access who change records on government databases,
computer hackers, or people who use falsified documents to assume
another identity, the institute said.
Although the draft ID Card Bill introduces some penalties, Imis
believes they do not go far enough to protect government databases
from criminals who might plant people in departments to falsify
electronic records.
Imis will also urge the government to recognise that in practice
people use different levels of identity verification for different
purposes, and that a single high-level system for establishing an
individual's identity may not be appropriate.
It has criticised the anti-money laundering regulations, which have
led to banks to request customers to bring in utility bills and
passports to open bank accounts. Neither pose a barrier to
fraudsters.
BCS warns of card confusion