Monday, December 01, 2008
ID card farce starts
I missed this article yesterday but thought it worth picking up on if only to illustrate the complete level of unpreparedness and chaos that exists in government over their pointless ID card project.
Apparently, Britain's first ID cards, issued last week with fingerprint and facial details, cannot be read by any official body because the government has not issued a single scanner. The Observer tells us that Ministers promised to roll out hundreds of electronic readers of biometric details. However, a spokesman for the Home Office admitted last week that no employers, police forces, hospitals or colleges have been given the machine - and there are as yet no plans to issue them.
As a result ID cards issued to foreign students and the foreign spouses of British citizens can be used only in a similar way to a valid passport and visa. Instead, authorities will have to rely on visual checks on the card and calls to a UK Border Agency hotline if they fear the card is not genuine.
It just illustrates the point really. Why are we spending all this money on a scheme that does not work and does not make us safer?
Apparently, Britain's first ID cards, issued last week with fingerprint and facial details, cannot be read by any official body because the government has not issued a single scanner. The Observer tells us that Ministers promised to roll out hundreds of electronic readers of biometric details. However, a spokesman for the Home Office admitted last week that no employers, police forces, hospitals or colleges have been given the machine - and there are as yet no plans to issue them.
As a result ID cards issued to foreign students and the foreign spouses of British citizens can be used only in a similar way to a valid passport and visa. Instead, authorities will have to rely on visual checks on the card and calls to a UK Border Agency hotline if they fear the card is not genuine.
It just illustrates the point really. Why are we spending all this money on a scheme that does not work and does not make us safer?
Labels: ID
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These cards could be used for scraping the ice off ones windscreen on frosty mornings like today, so in that respect they do "make us safer"
In all other respects, they are about as much worth as a tin shit in a gold mine!
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In all other respects, they are about as much worth as a tin shit in a gold mine!
# posted by 
: 9:35 AM
: 9:35 AM<< Home
