Cutting up the ID Cards (project)
The BBC is reporting that Liam Byrne MP has undertaken a full-scale review of the ID Cards programme and is suggesting that the cost could be cut 'quite substantially' by making more use of existing databases.
This leaves me with very mixed feelings. There can be no doubt that the move away from a 'big bang' implementation to a more gradual escalation of the service will reduce risk levels and make it far more likely that my hard-earned taxes won't be thrown into a money pit controlled by a systems integration firm. But the proposal to build upon existing system components is worrying: those systems, and their data, will become subject to massive scope creep, and are going to be used for purposes far beyond their original design specifications. It is highly likely that they have not been designed with the necessary security and connectivity requirements in mind, and that by bolting them into the National Identification Register we'll create a swiss cheese of a security model.
Maybe we could persuade the Home Office to wait until Sir James Crosby's public-private forum on identity has completed its work? That is on the assumption that he will be empowered to take a realistic look at the potential for federated identity use across the UK public sector, and that the government might listen to his recommendations...
1:13:33 PM 
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