Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 978Identity FraudThere is growing concern and controversy over identity theft. Numerous surveys haveindicated increased worry amongst the general public in the UK. This has occurredalongside an apparently growing number of cases of reported identity theft around theworld.The Identity Cards Bill has been offered by the Government as the solution to identitytheft. When the bill first went through Parliament, the discussion of identity theft wasmarginal. A few mentions were made on both sides of the debate, but it was never alarge component of the discussion. When it was discussed, it was always in tandem withthe Cabinet Office estimate that identity theft cost the UK £1.3 billion per year. Yetnone of the claims for or against the linking of the card to identity theft involved muchdetail.Identity theft is now taking a more central role in the second round of the Bill’s passagethrough Parliament. The first item of the parliamentary briefing on ID cards states that:“Criminals are recognising that our identities are just as valuable, ifnot more so, than our material possessions. A few items stolen from arubbish bin such as utility bills and credit card statements can lead tohuge financial losses as well as distress and inconvenience for victimsin putting their records straight. On average victims can spend 60hours restoring their records. An ID cards scheme – as the legislationsays – is first and foremost for the benefit of citizens, giving them ameans to protect their identity and to be able to prove it in a secureand straightforward manner.” 248It is difficult to find any flaw within this statement, and since the release of the billmuch of the emphasis of the debate has been on identity theft. Similarly, in Parliamentthe issue of identity theft was raised in order to promote Identity Cards Bill as thesolution:“Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab): What can myright hon. Friend do to help people like Gavin Fisher, a young manfrom Mitcham whose identity has been stolen? On more than oneoccasion his parents have been sent frantic by calls from the police tosay that he has been arrested, only to go to the police station to find248 ‘Identity Cards Briefing’, the Home Office, May 2005.