Business should give Government ideas about how to use ID cards, says Minister

Evidence that the Government’s flagship ID Card programme is looking for a rationale for its own existence was given by Meg Hillier, Home Office Minister in charge of the increasingly costly development. Speaking to journalists and industry representatives in Westminster this week, Hillier said that the private sector "needs to take on a roll of provisioning a broader variety of services" based on the use of the ID Card and associated database.

Our Meg compared ID cards to the Apple iPhone. "The iPhone is just the infrastructure, it's the apps that make it interesting", she is reported to have said. While government is "best placed" to develop that infrastructure, it's up to the public and private sector to come up with good ways to use the cards and supporting database”.

Hillier, for example, suggested banks will see a use for the ID cards, as checking identity to set up an account costs them as much as £85 for the most difficult cases, such as the fifth of people in the UK without a valid passport - which includes young people, the elderly, and the poor.

Now that really is a new idea – the distribution of ID Cards to the needy! Perhaps the Queen could hand them out on Maundy Thursday? However, the message is clear. The ID Card is not primarily for terrorism, policing, immigration etc etc  – it is also for any good idea the private sector can think of!

While the system is currently in card form, Hillier noted: "In the future, it's the chip that's the important bit." She suggested chips could be integrated into mobile phones, get Chip and PIN for security, and also be used to prove identity online. She added: "There's lots of potential, but we don't have all the answers". Did Meg tell eager journalists about how the audit trail associated with the database would track all these developments?  Of course not.

I think I will end by modifying Meg's quote. "The ID Card is just the infrastructure, it's the apps that make it wholly frightening".

Reference: http://www.itpro.co.uk/621481/government-wants-business-ideas-for-id-cards

Comments

[Ian Brown]

And of course, looking for applications *after* a technology has been designed and built is a great way to make sure it is "fit for purpose".

[Simon Crome]

We have found this thing in the Tower of London with ropes, wheel and a ratchet. The NHS thinks it could be used to give patients traction. If anybody else can think of a use for it, do let us know.

It used to called a rack, but we think of it more as an identity expander.