The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, said last
week that he still had serious concerns over the adequacy of the
government's plans to safeguard the public's data in the ID card
programme, despite the introduction of tougher
controls.
He called for the government to reassure the public by
commissioning and publishing a privacy impact assessment of the
programme, and granting stronger powers to the Information
Commissioner to police the scheme.
Despite the government's attempts to clarify the purpose of ID
cards, there were still many unknowns, making it difficult to
assess whether the measures taken to secure data were
proportionate, said Thomas.
"The technology is still at a fairly early stage of development.
Most trials have been limited to a small-scale population. Moving
to the full population does raise questions," he said. "We cannot
afford to get this wrong."
Under the current plans, it was not clear whether police will be
given the rights to access the data trails, retained to tackle
organised crime and prevent terrorism, to investigate a wide range
of other crimes.
"Will they have access to the database for murder, rape cases,
unpaid parking fines. Where do you draw the line?" he said.
Thomas said that his concerns about function creep had still not
been addressed, raising fears that the scope of the ID card scheme
could be extended over time by future governments.
The Information Commissioner needed stronger powers to police ID
cards, he said, calling on the government to give him the right to
audit the scheme without seeking prior approval from ministers.
This would provide him with a backstop, to ensure that the scheme
was properly managed, he added.