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. Most trials have
been limited to a small-scale population. Moving to the full
population raises questions. We cannot get this wrong," he
said.
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 or unpaid
parking fines? Where do you draw the line?" he said.
Thomas said his concerns that the scope of the scheme could be
extended over time had not been addressed.