A biometric security firm is pitching a
national identity scheme designed to allay fears caused by the
government holding and trying to manage a national identity
base.
The biometric smartcard system
proposed by UK Biometrics is being promoted as the government
tries to address the outcry caused by HMRC losing the child benefit
records of 25m people.
The plan would be to store everybody's biometric data on any
smart card chip, currently embedded in credit cards. For those
people who do not carry credit cards, a dedicated smart card would
cost about £5 - much cheaper than the estimated cost of the current
national identity card scheme, said the firm
When required by police or authorities to positively identify
themselves, the card holder would slot their smart card into a
hand-held biometric scanner, place their fingertip onto the reader
and have their identity confirmed.
UK Biometrics managing director Matthew James said, "Resistance
to the national ID card scheme appears to have hardened in response
to the recent loss of HMRC data. With the smart card plan everybody
is responsible for their own data and there is no need for a
national database.
"The hand held scanner simply confirms to the authorities that
the person holding the card is who they claim to be and no
additional data need be stored. In the event that someone loses
their smart card, their fingerprint cannot be reproduced from the
encrypted data held for comparison on the chip. And nobody can use
the card for fraudulent purposes," he said.
The smart card plan could also be used to eliminate ATM fraud
since users would be required to scan their fingerprint to access
their account rather than use vulnerable chip and Pin.
And a home scanner linked to a PC or laptop by a USB port could
prevent internet transaction fraud since the user would be required
to scan their fingerprint to confirm their identity to make a
purchase.
Experts offer alternative, less-risky model for
national identity card scheme