Friday, August 13, 2004

CBI wants ID, if it knew what it was

According to publictechnology.net (also ePolitix and the BBC), the CBI supports the principles behind ID cards, but fears for the reliability of the data:

"The government must spell out how broad its objectives for ID cards are and exactly how the scheme is intended to achieve them."

This is the most prominent mention of cards, I can think of, in an industry-usage sense - up until now the scope for use has been mostly governmental and public sector. Does this mean that anyone that wants to verify who someone is will have access to this identity database now? This certainly seems to indicate that that's what the CBI are pushing for:

"If it is to become widely accepted, the government must win the confidence of business or the scheme will be of little use."

In fact, the whole press release suffers from the same unsure, ambiguous and short-sighted enthusiasm that those behind the plan suffer from.

But hey, at least they admit it.

1 comment:

Scribe said...

Also worth mentioning the Register's coverage.