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July 09, 2006
ID Cards Fiasco
A scoop in The Times:
TONY BLAIR’S flagship identity cards scheme is set to fail and may not be introduced for a generation, according to leaked Whitehall e-mails from the senior officials responsible for the multi-billion-pound project.
The problems are so serious that ministers have been forced to draw up plans for a scaled-down “face-saving” version to meet their pledge of phasing in the cards from 2008.
One official warns of a “botched operation” that could put back the introduction of ID cards for a generation. He added: “I conclude that we are setting ourselves up to fail.” Another admits he is planning Home Office strategy around the possibility that the scheme could be “canned completely”.
The emails in full are here.
Unfortunately, no comments on the fact that not only won’t they work but they are a gross invasion of our liberties and freedoms. But, then, these are civil servants and that’s a policy decision.
July 9, 2006 in Your Tax Money at Work | Permalink
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» Doomed to Fail, Loved by Bureaucrats from L'Ombre de l'Olivier
The Wapping Liar has found some evidence that even the civil servants in charge of implementing the ID card scheme think it is destined for failure according to their emails. God forbid that I (and Tim W, Samizdata & everyone else) should gloat and s... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 9, 2006 11:54:39 AM
Comments
Thank God for government incompetence.
Posted by: sortapundit | Jul 9, 2006 1:20:22 PM
this isn't incompetence. It is surprising how "incompetent" competent people become if you ask them to do something that they don't want to do.
Posted by: dsquared | Jul 9, 2006 1:33:51 PM
"But, then, these are civil servants and that’s a policy decision."
The unfolding situation is characteristically Blairite - rather like England's World Cup performance, there is much talk in the lead up culminating in a failure to deliver.
We have mostly come to realise that there is a fairly typical scenario for government announcements of dramatic new policies: much fanfare before crucial details have been worked out. When the details prove problematic, the civil service is blamed for incompetence and obstructing "modernisation". Blair promises that the struggle against resistance to reform will continue and Brown flags up a promise to sack thousands more civil servants in the next spending review.
Btw I simply don't accept that ID cards would infringe our fundamental liberties. The claim is absurb in the context:
- We already accept the need for passports in international travel and passports are scheduled to include biometic data as a barrier to fraud, forgeries and adoption of multiple-identities.
- We accept massive intrusions on privacy for security reasons: there are over 4 million public CCTV installed in Britain; we have speed cameras on roads and cameras to track liability for the Congestion Charge in London; all emails are automatically recorded by ISPs and mobile phones track the location of handsets within a hundred metres. Much of this data is routinely used in criminal and security investigations and is being cited in trials.
- The NHS is presently committed to a project, recently estimated to cost at least £12bn, that will create a national database of all personal medical records. Doctors have repeatedly expressed concerns that this project threatens the confidentiality of patient records.
Posted by: Bob B | Jul 9, 2006 10:06:37 PM
"Btw I simply don't accept that ID cards would infringe our fundamental liberties. The claim is absurb in the context"
Shurely more than one thing can infringe on our liberties, Bob B?
Besides, it's more about the National Register, the database behind the cards, than the cards themselves.
And you neglected to mention the Children's Database.
Posted by: TD | Jul 10, 2006 11:13:07 AM
