Report - Guardian

66 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005applications. Under current plans, every Belgian citizen will receive an identificationcard bearing his or her name and photograph, and two digital certificates, one of whichcan be used for authentication, the other as a digital signature for documents such asdeclarations or application forms. 149In February 2003, the Parliament approved the introduction of BELPIC, and the newcards were tested in 11 municipalities (communes) until September 2003. Followingthis, the government decided to roll out the cards to around nine million citizens by theend of 2006. Every Belgian citizen will be required to own an electronic ID card by theend of 2009. 150It appears that the Belgian Government is intentionally making spelling mistakes on itscards in order to confuse fraudsters, 151 which can only lead one to conclude that theyaccept that the card can be forged.FranceThe French have a long history of identity documents, numbers, and markings. In 1832,the French stopped branding criminals, but the following year they implemented acentral store of information on repeat offenders. In the 1800s all movement within thecountry was monitored through the use of internal passports, permitting police to followthe travels of migrants. Eventually this was abandoned on grounds of civil liberties inthe 3 rd Republic. But at the same time, the new Government invented a new identitycard with a fingerprint and central records storage, implemented in the 1920s, thoughonly in one French Department (Seine). This system was not implemented across theentire country due to strong resistance, mainly from the French Human Rights League,the CGT Union. 152 This changed under the Vichy regime. The system was thengeneralized and complemented by an identification number, together with themandatory declaration of any change of residence address. 153In response to the fall of the Vichy regime, the card was changed in 1955 to removereference to religious belief (particularly the tag ‘Juif’). The central records-file wasalso abolished. In 1974 the Government decided to phase out the collection of thefingerprint, and began moving towards an optional card, where the holder’s address hadonly an indicative value. This gradual reduction in the regime represents a strongerregard for civil liberties in the face of identity cards.A first attempt to introduce a digitized ID card (originally promised to combat illegalimmigration, terrorism, and identity theft) was halted in 1981 after a change ofGovernment, but 1987 saw the introduction of a new identity card, made of plastic anddesignated as ‘secure’. 154 This is the form of the current national ID card. It is notmandatory and, while a fingerprint is taken, it is not digitized and does not appear on the149 ‘Privacy and Human Rights 2004’, Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International, October2004, available at http://www.privacyinternational.org/phr.150 ‘Price hike for Belgium’s e-ID cards’, Expatica, July 26, 2004.151 ‘Belgians in cunning misspelt ID card plan’, Jan Libbenga, The Register, May 26, 2005.152 Audition de M. Gérard NOIRIEL historien, directeur d’Etudes à l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales(EHESS), presentation given to the Commission Nationale de L’Informatique et des Libertés, February 15, 2005.153 Audition de M. Pierre Piazza, presented to the Commission Nationale de L’Informatique et des Libertés, April 8,2005.154 Décret n°87-178 du 19 mars 1987 portant création d'un système de fabrication et de gestion informatisée descartes nationales d'identité. Journal officiel du 20 mars 1987, pages 3174-3175.