UK tests ID card on foreigners, students

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_eu/britain_identity_cards&printer=1

Britain will begin issuing national identity cards within months, targeting foreigners, airport staff and students in the first wave of the program, the government said Thursday.

Foreign nationals will need to provide fingerprints and personal data for a database linked to the plan starting in November, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said.

The program will cost an estimated $11.1 billion and involve the creation of a new national database, which will store a wide range of individual data.

Ministers say the cards and database will help tackle terrorism, crime and illegal immigration.

But opponents insist the system will be too expensive, will provide little added security and will erode personal freedoms.

Foreigners from outside the European Economic Area — the 27-nation European Union plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein — deemed at most risk of committing immigration offenses will be targeted first, Smith said, including those using student or marriage visas to live in Britain.

The identity cards will store details of the holders' immigration status, entitlements and specifics on how long they can stay in the U.K., she said.

Beginning in 2009, citizens of the European Economic Area who live in the U.K. and Britons working in secure sites, including some airport staff, power station workers and staff at the London 2012 Olympics, will be required to sign up for identity cards.

Students and young people will be asked to join the program voluntarily starting in 2010, Smith said.

Smith said that, from 2011, everyone in Britain applying to renew a passport will have his or her details added to the national database. She said she expects most people to be registered by 2017.

But the government has promised Parliament a vote before making it compulsory to carry an ID card. The debate is expected in the next parliamentary session, which will begin after a national election likely to be held in 2010.

"As citizens, it will offer us a new, convenient, secure way to prove our identity," Smith said in a speech in London.

Opposition lawmakers and civil liberties campaigners bitterly oppose the program; some question the government's ability to handle sensitive data.

In recent months, tax officials have lost sensitive information — including banking records — on nearly half the population; transport officials misplaced records of 3 million would-be drivers; and the Defense Ministry lost a laptop storing details of 600,000 military applicants.

"The National Identity Register, which will contain dozens of personal details of every adult in this country in one place, will be a severe threat to our security and a real target for criminals, hackers and terrorists," said David Davis, home affairs spokesman with the main opposition Conservative party.

Smith said internal government polling shows 60 percent of Britons support the idea.

She said the cards would help citizens prove their identity when opening a bank account, applying for a job, or dealing with government departments.
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