Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 77A Canadian Parliamentary Committee that travelled to Spain to observe their identitycard scheme was surprised by the amount of information that is collected. When theydiscussed the invasive nature of the proposals and the problems of mass databases inSpain with the Spanish Data Protection Authority, they were disappointed by the:“evasiveness of data protection officials when questions were askedregarding the potential for data misuse by government departments orthe state security apparatus. We were told that laws exist to protectpersonal data, but when probed further, officials were unresponsive.”In February 2004 the Spanish Council of Ministers approved a new card. It included:- An electronic certificate to authenticate the identity of the cardholder.- A certified digital signature, allowing the holder to sign electronically.- A biometric identifier (fingerprint).- A digitised photograph of the holder.- A digitised image of the holder's handwritten signature.- All the data that is also printed on the card (date of birth, place of residence,etc.) 186At the time, the proposal was criticized for the lack of Parliamentary debate on theissue, and the use of a Government decree to implement the system through an opaqueprocess.By the time that the project was approved, the predicted cost was EUR100 million overthe next four years. The launch of a pilot system was delayed by one year, with theresult that the new cards will not be ready for distribution until late 2007 or early2008. 187SwedenIdentity cards in Sweden are not compulsory, but are helpful for interaction withgovernment services and also to open a bank account. The card costs about £20, and isissued so long as your application is supported by a person already carrying a validSwedish card who can vouch for your identity. Cards are issued by post offices andbanks.According to the HAC report, although there is no proper card in Sweden yet, allindividuals must have a personal number and a record on the national register. Access tothe register is tightly regulated. It has existed since the 17 th century and, according toone report, was run by the Church until 1990.There are plans to introduce ID cards with biometrics on them when the passports areupdated. As in Denmark, the biometrics will only be on the chip, and the card will bemerely for travel within Schengen, not for other purposes such as combating crime oridentity fraud. It will not be compulsory to carry the card and, according to the HAC186 ‘‘Spanish Government officially launches electronic ID cards’, eGovernment News, February 16, 2004, availableat http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/2154/343.187 ‘Introduction of Spanish electronic ID cards delayed’, eGovernment News, December 10, 2004.