Report - Guardian

70 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005attacks in France, the terrorists used their own identities. A similar conclusion wasreached by the President of the French National Observatory of Delinquency, whoconsiders that identity fraud: “remains quantitatively marginal in criminal matters, whileit is increasing in the commercial sector”. 165The proposal is likely to face significant scrutiny. When the Government firstintroduced this project, it opened up a consultation session. However, during thisconsultation process, it was announced that the policy had already been decided. A draftlaw was released and is under review by the CNIL, the equivalent to the UKInformation Commissioner (although with far greater powers).In June 2005 a consultative report was released by the Forum for Civil Liberties on theInternet (“Le Forum des droits sur l'internet”). 166 This NGO was asked by then-Ministerof the Interior Dominique de Villepin to conduct a consultation on the proposed scheme.The report found that the plans were overly vague, and therefore called for:- better studies on identity fraud- the decoupling of the project from the passport system- studies on the risks of using a single identifier- the responsibility for the project be shifted to the privacy commission- the creation of a new social contract between the citizen and the state- studies on the contact-less nature of the chip- a clear statement from the Government on whether the card will be required forcommercial transaction- assurances that the card would be free at enrolment (though individuals could becharged for renewal or loss)- a clear Parliamentary debate on the obligatory nature of the card.A law implementing the system is likely to be introduced into the French Parliament inSeptember 2005.GermanyGermany provides one of the most interesting examples of identity cards. MostGermans readily carry around their identity cards but, because of past abuses, are alsoquite wary of the collection of personal information by the Government.Compulsory registration began in 1938, and cards were introduced in 1950. It is notmandatory to carry the cards, although the police have powers to compel production ofthe card. From age 16, everyone is compelled to hold an ID card, and the onlyauthentication required is a birth certificate.Under Federal Data Protection Law, the Federal Government is forbidden from creatinga back-end database of biometrics for the identity card. That is, German privacy lawprevents the creation of a central database.165 Audition de M. Alain Bauer, Président du conseil d’orientation de l’Observatoire national de la délinquance, del’Institut national des hautes études de sécurité, presentation given to the Commission Nationale de L’Informatique etdes Libertés, April 12, 2005.166 ‘Project de carte nationale d’identite electronique’, un rapport part Le Forum des droits sur l’internet’, 16 juin,2005, available at http://www.foruminternet.org/telechargement/documents/rapp-cnie-20050616.pdf.