By Lucy Sherriff for The
Register
This article has been reproduced from The Register, with
permission.
According to The FT, Katherine Courtney, the ID card programme
director at the Home Office, said that the government wanted to
build safeguards into the scheme to avoid "people attempting
frivolously to use the system when there is not a business
justification for that".
Situations when a check would be justified included car rentals,
for instance. A car hire firm would be able to access the database
to confirm a potential customer's identity. At the time of writing,
the Home Office has not been able to clarify exactly what
information the firm would have access to in this scenario.
Employers would be able to use the database to check on
candidates, and the database could be used to run much faster
background checks on those applying to work as teachers, the
officials said.
Courtney said it was unlikely that the ID card would be demanded
for everyday shopping transactions, but went on to outline plans
for the ID card to be linked into the next generation of chip and
pin credit and debit card readers.
She argued that integrating the cards into business and public
life would provide incentives for people to register for the card,
even before they become compulsory. In effect, life without a card
will become increasingly inconvienient, so most people will
register for one, just to speed things up.
© The Register
2005
