The Identity Project

In the shadow of our thoughts for those involved in the London atrocities, a sobering reminder of the ID Card issue.

The Identity Project
an assessment of the UK Identity Cards Bill and its implications

Credits
Advisory Group

Professor Ian Angell, Convenor of the Department of Information Systems, LSE

Professor Christine Chinkin, Law Department, LSE

Professor Frank Cowell, Economics Department, LSE

Professor Keith Dowding, Government Department, LSE

Professor Patrick Dunleavy, Government Department, LSE

Professor George Gaskell, Director, Methodology Institute, LSE

Professor Christopher Greenwood QC, Convenor of the Law Department, LSE

Professor Christopher Hood, Centre for Analysis of Risk & Regulation, LSE

Professor Mary Kaldor, Centre for the Study of Global Governance, LSE

Professor Frank Land, Department of Information Systems, LSE

Professor Robin Mansell, Department of Media & Communications, LSE

Professor Tim Newburn, Social Policy Department, LSE


Professor David Piachaud, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE

Professor Robert Reiner, Law Department, LSE

Research Group, Contributors, Advisors and Reviewers

Research coordinator: Dr Edgar Whitley, Reader in Information Systems. Professor Ross Anderson, Cambridge. Adrian Beck, University of Leicester. Ralf Bendrath, University of Bremen. Kristin Boa, University of Toronto. Nicholas Bohm Daniel Boos, Switzerland. Dr Stefan Brands, McGill University. Dr Ian Brown. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch. Dr Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto. Marco A. Calamari, Italy. Shami Chakrabarti, Liberty. Professor Roger Clarke, Australia. Professor Andrew Clement, Canada. Dan Cooper, Covington and Burling. Mike Cushman, LSE. Ian Dowty. Terri Dowty. Mark Dzięcielewski. Alberto Escudero-Pascual, Sweden. Joseph Ferenbok, University of Toronto. Federico Ferretti, University of Leeds. Jens Franz, SOAS. Teresa Hackett, Ireland. Kathrin Gerst, Germany. Marc Gilman. Dr Brian Gladman. Andrea Glorioso, Italy. Wendy Grossman. William Heath, Kable. Rikke Frank Jorgensen, Denmark. Jeegar Kakkad. Philippe Martin, Kable. Meryem Marzouki, France. Ariosto Matus-Perez. Dr Eileen Munro, LSE. Sjoera Nas, The Netherlands. Dr Peter Neumann, SRI International. Professor Toshimaru Ogura. Joe Organ, Oxford Internet Institute. Nicholas Pauro. Daniele Pica, LSE. Dr Chris Pounder, Pinsent Masons. Professor Angela Sasse, UCL. Bruce Schneier, Counterpane Systems. Dr Susan Scott, LSE. Dr Barbara Simons. Dr Steve Smithson, LSE. Nina Somera, Philippines. Jay Stanley, ACLU. Barry Steinhardt, ACLU. Toby Stevens, Enterprise Privacy Group. Peter Szyszko, Covington and Burling. Gohsuke Takama, Japan. Sarah Thatcher, LSE. Prodromos Tsiavos, LSE. Rosemary Walsh. Jeremy Wickins, University of Sheffield. Johan Wilhelmsson, Swedish Ministry of Justice. Derek Wong.

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Summary of Conclusions

The Report concludes that the establishment of a secure national identity system has the potential to create significant, though limited, benefits for society. However, the proposals currently being considered by Parliament are neither safe nor appropriate.

There was an overwhelming view expressed by stakeholders involved in this Report that the proposals are too complex, technically unsafe, overly prescriptive and lack a foundation of public trust and confidence.

The current proposals miss key opportunities to establish a secure, trusted and cost-effective identity system and the Report therefore considers alternative models for an identity card scheme that may achieve the goals of the legislation more effectively.

The concept of a national identity system is supportable, but the current proposals are not feasible.

http://www.statewatch.org/news/2005/jun/identityreport.pdf