Data loss calls ID cards into question

 

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 22 Nov 2007 at 08:31

The massive data breach at Revenue and Customs has lead to calls for the national identity register to be scrapped.

The identity card scheme and its national identity register has been called into question following the massive data breach by HM Revenue and Customs.

Earlier this week, Chancellor Alistair Darling told parliament that two discs containing personal details of 25 million individuals had gone missing in the department's internal mail system.

Following his speech, members of the opposition suggested the government had shown it was too incompetent to handle the nationwide database required for the ID card scheme.

"Today must mark the final blow for ambitions of this government to create a national ID card scheme. They simply cannot be trusted with people's information," says Conservative Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.

The government should, "get a grip and deliver a basic level of competence," says Osborne.

Osborne isn't alone in his concerns.

"After this disaster how can the public possibly have confidence in the vast centralised databases needed for the compulsory ID card scheme," asks Liberal Democrat Leader and Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable.

The Home Office stressed that the National Identity Register would not hold any tax, benefit or financial records, and that all biometric data would be held on a separate IT infrastructure from biographical data, such as name and address.

The statement added that the Identity Card Act would make tampering with the register or disclosing information from it a criminal offence, punishable by sentences of ten or two years respectively. The register will also feature an audit and alert system, as well as access controls and filters to manage information requests.