UK 'not ready' for ID card scheme

Plans to introduce identity cards in Britain may be premature because the technology may not be up to the task, a panel of experts has concluded. Overall, the scheme is likely to be a positive step for society, and should go ahead, the researchers argue. But they think the technology could potentially be abused and would be ineffective in some cases. The UK government is conducting small-scale trials, and hopes to begin phasing in ID cards in the next decade. They would involve physical information being taken from each of the 60 million people living in Britain. This "biometric" information would take the form of an iris scan, fingerprint or facial scan. It would then be stored on a microchip embedded within the card. When presenting the card, the information would be checked against a national repository, or database.