Privacy advocates have reacted angrily to reports that the
government plans to link
national identity records to criminal records for
background checks on people who work with children and
vulnerable people.
Up to 11 million such workers could be affected immediately if
the plan goes ahead.
Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of privacy advocates
NO2ID, said the move was
consistent with the various forms of coercion strategy to create
so-called volunteers for
national ID cards.
"Biometrics are part of the search for clean, unique
identifiers," Phil Booth said. He said the idea was patently
ridiculous when the Home Office was planning to allow high street
shops and the
Post Office to take fingerprints for the ID card.
Following a Freedom of Information Act request to the Criminal
Records Bureau, the government admitted to running a feasibility
study to link the biometric details to be held in the national
identity database to the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).
The aim was to improve the CRB's accuracy following a recent
doubling of errors in fingerprint identification, according to
The
Register.
NO2ID's general secretary Guy Herbert said ministers had said
the ID database would not contain criminal records. "The covert
programme unearthed by The Register shows what a fatuous piece of
misdirection that is," he said.
"If the CRB gets its way, then for millions of people their ID
card would be directly linked to a detailed police record and a
scoring system designed to evaluate their suitability for various
jobs."
From October, people who work with children and vulnerable
people have to register with the
Independent Safeguarding
Authority (ISA), which uses CRB and other sources to evaluate a
person's suitability for the role.
In a written statement a CRB spokesperson said that the CRB
committed in its business plan for 2009/10 to research the
possibility of introducing biometrics into the disclosure service
as a way to improve accuracy.
"This research is still in the early stages of feasibility and
several options are being considered as part of this work,
including options for the use of ID card data and fingerprints. The
CRB is not considering the use of other biometrics at this stage,"
the spokesman said.
Computer Weekly reported yesterday that the
Metropolitan Police is looking for a supplier of portable ID card
readers that could work with images of faces, fingerprints and
irises.
The ISA's website says it will assess applicants using CRB data,
including relevant criminal convictions, cautions, police
intelligence and other appropriate sources.
"We will securely store information about people's ISA status
for employers and voluntary organisations to use when they are
recruiting," it said.