- (Bloomberg) -- A U.K. identity card will not prevent
terrorism and may make identity fraud easier, a leading security expert
says, undermining the case for the cards made by Home Secretary David Blunkett.
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- Blunkett on Monday set out plans for a national identity
card featuring "biometric" measures such as fingerprints and
iris scans to be introduced in 2007. A six-month trial of biometric recording
and verification, involving 10,000 volunteers, has just begun.
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- He said an ID card would protect Britain from terrorism,
identity fraud and "benefit tourism" - people visiting the U.K.
to claim welfare payments.
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- "An ID card makes ID fraud easier because it's a
one-stop shop," said Bruce Schneier, a security expert and author
of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World.
"My fear is that once you have a credential that everybody trusts,
faking it becomes so much more valuable. There will be a false sense of
security and you can abuse that."
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- In an interview with the BBC in London on Monday, Blunkett
cited information from the security forces that 35 percent of terrorists
had used fake IDs.
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- "How is this going to help?" said Schneier,
who has testified on security before the US congress, from California.
"Let's pretend he's right, and let's pretend the card is 100 percent
successful. So now there's no terrorists using fake IDs. Does it reduce
the threat of an attack? No. They will just find another way. Any anti-terrorist
measure that forces a terrorist to change his tactics in a meaningless
way is a waste of money."
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- The Home Office said in a statement that because the
new cards would use biometric measures, the system would identify people
trying to apply for multiple cards under different names.
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- "Biometrics won't stop me getting a card in your
name," said Schneier. "Pictures are a biometric, and we use pictures
on cards in the US and fraud happens all the time. What's new is biometrics
being checked by computer. Is your computer reliable? Mine isn't.
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- "The operators who run the computers are bribeable.
What does it cost to bribe someone to go into a database and change the
fingerprint?"
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- The plan to introduce a compulsory identity card for
the first time since the cards were scrapped after World War II has met
resistance from other member's of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government,
including Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt. Parliament will
be given a vote before the cards are made compulsory in 2013.
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- "The whole point of this trial is to see what glitches
we uncover," the Home Office said in a statement Replying to Schneier's
criticisms. "We will work to make the system as secure as possible."
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- ©2004 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=a7DltmImQUYE&refer=uk
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