Report - Guardian

26 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005for such individuals to prove registrable facts about themselves to others”. The Bill alsoestablishes that the card scheme will allow “the provision of a secure and reliablemethod for registrable facts about such individuals to be ascertained or verifiedwherever that is necessary in the public interest.”“Public Interest” encompasses a number of dimensions. Clause 1(4) of the Bill defines itas being “in the interests of national security”, “for the purposes of the prevention ordetection of crime”, “for the purposes of the enforcement of immigration controls”, “forthe purposes of the enforcement of prohibitions on unauthorised working oremployment” and “for the purpose of securing the efficient and effective provision ofpublic services.”On the face of it, this definition would imply that the card and the register would benecessary to seek employment, 5 to gain access to health, 6 benefits and other services,and that it would be used by police, security and immigration officers in the executionof their functions. However the words “for the purposes of the prevention or detectionof crime” could possibly be connected to financial control and money launderingregulations to provide a means by which the ID system can be used for a much widerrange of purposes. This could include operating a bank account, using professionalservices 7 such as a solicitor or accountant, applying for a permit or license, internaltravel, buying property, stocks or shares, applying for credit or using large amounts ofcash.It has been proposed that the card and register may ultimately be used to verifyentitlement to most if not all public services 8 while the Bill and the Regulatory ImpactAssessment paves the way for widespread use by the private sector. The Assessmentstates that the government will “work closely with private sector organisations to ensurethat the [ID card] scheme develops along lines which will meet their businessrequirements”. This could mean that links and transactions within private sector recordsare likely to appear alongside the government-held registrable facts associated with anindividual.The Home Office recently stated: “We are proposing to make online checks against theregister the norm, except in those low risk/low value cases where a visual check isjudged to be sufficient.” 9 Responding to a question of whether libraries and video rentalshops might require the card the Home Secretary told the Home Affairs Committee:“Wherever someone is required to prove their identity and those operating thatparticular service have registered so they can use a (biometric) reader then that would befine.” 105 ‘Need a job? Get a card - arresting ID pitch to business’, John Lettice, The Register,http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/03/business_immigrant_checks/.6 ‘U.K. to Put Biometric Readers in all Hospitals, Blears Says’, Bloomberg. September 28, 2004,http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=adIU._FV1Wnw&refer=ukU.K.7 ‘New client? ID card please’, Accountancy Age, December 2, 2004,http://www.accountancyage.com/news/1138822.8 ‘ID card database to support a public service delivery agenda’, Out-law.com, December 6, 2004, http://www.outlaw.com/php/page.php?page_id=idcarddatabaseto1102340874&area=news.9 ‘Talks consider use of ID cards for business’, James Watson, Computing, December 1, 2004,http://www.vnunet.com/news/1159786.10 House of Commons, Home Affairs Committee, Minutes of evidence, May 4, 2004, http://www.parliament.thestationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmhaff/uc130-vii/uc13002.htm.