Excuse me if I have misunderstood or am ignorant, but isn’t this what we do with our drivers licence and passports? Granted it makes it another database where data is but if you trust one, can’t you trust the other?
The issue was more about the amount of data in one place, and the access that various government departments would have to data that didn’t (or shouldn’t) directly concern them.
Its true that driving license and passport data exists on databases, and there is mutual access to certain data (for example I just renewed my mum’s driving license online and passport number was part of the identity verification).
There were huge privacy concerns with the National Identity Register database, and it was publicly destroyed when the system was abandoned.
You may also argue that in the intervening years social media has meant we share so much of our personal data willingly that it’s effectively in the public domain…
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Right I see, I suppose I would say that isn’t that the case for wherever you put your data (a pretty weak argument granted).
I didn’t know that! I suppose what I would say is that if the Passport and DVLA databases are “good” enough, couldn’t a new section of the government be created to allow for a cheaper national identity card - at least something that can get through the regulations for things like banking etc.
I’d go on to say that what gets put out on social media is aruguably more detrimental than a few bits of information like name, birthdate, address.
Not quite sure what you mean there. The proposed shift was away from an expectation that departments would share data only when necessary, to a system where data would be shared by default unless there was a reason not to.
At the moment there’s some level of scrutiny, accountability, challenge etc.
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By the way I’m not against a single ID scheme in principle. But with the record of successive governments on IT projects (edit: and data security, data sharing) I’m extremely cautious!
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Oh my apologies, I must have missed the general idea - I thought it was about bringing in a new department that could operate and manage the issue and maintenance of an “identity card” that would be cheaper/ more accessible than the current Drivers Licence/ Passport - my bad!
Definitely agree that this should remain as a staple of course!
No no not at all, I think I have missed the idea of what the ID was - I missed that it was specifically a single ID! - The internet scares me to all hell - but I suppose I am also very numb to it, having only ever really been in the world where the internet is an ever present thing.
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[quote=“JustJordds, post:46, topic:65519, full:true”]
Oh my apologies, I must have missed the general idea - I thought it was about bringing in a new department that could operate and manage the issue and maintenance of an “identity card” that would be cheaper/ more accessible than the current Drivers Licence/ Passport - my bad![/quote]
Yes, I think that’s what people are suggesting on here and again, I don’t really have a problem with a piece of ID which would; identify the individual, allow them to access government services, be acceptable to banks etc.
I’m not sure who raised the issue in this thread of the previous attempt to introduce ID cards (possibly me), I was just pointing out that last time around it was much more than just an ID card.
And for people who have grown up sharing personal data on the internet and with modern regulations about providing ID for banks, I accept that the world is a very different place to the one an old git like me grew up in. In the 1960s and 1970s a handwritten letter addressed to oneself used to be acceptable ID to collect a delivery of a package from the post office. In 1977 when my grandfather died, the cashier at the Building Society didn’t ask to see a death certificate and simply asked my mum to forge his signature before handing over the contents of his account in cash!
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I see that now - I think I got slightly confused/ missed the point - but I agree something that is trying to more than it should really be able to is a bad idea.
I can definitely see your point! I suppose for me, so much information is already out there from the minute you sign up for virtually anything your privacy isn’t really in your hands, and you put it in the hands of businesses and the government - who if they ever really wanted to would get a file up on you in minutes. I suppose I am just numb to it and accept that its the reality of the modern world.
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Does it matter that they get your a name, DOB, and address. After all it’s just the same info you need to be on the electoral register its hardly life xhanging info and its stuff you give to most companys one way or another. Maybe the answer is if you register to vote you get a free Id card.
It was a bit more than name, address and date of birth. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-identity-register-destroyed-as-government-consigns-id-card-scheme-to-history
Edit : as I’ve said previously in this thread I have no objection to a single piece of ID. What I objected to last time was the database behind it, and the access to other previously separate databases, which is exactly the bit of my post you quoted.
Who was it with
I opened, in the last 5 years, an RBS, Yorkshire Bank, American Express, Coop Bank, Barclays, mbna and Virgin Money accounts online all without providing photo ID and no visits to a branch.
I believe I was verified through credit rating agency checks on my address and electoral registration history as well as, a couple of times, my passport number.
Barclays. Didn’t need to visit a person in branch either. All banks with exception of the likes of monzo do not require photo ID. Only the required two pieces of documentation of a large list of applicable documents, there quite flexible.
I’m kinda curious to actually test this out for myself and go and try and open a bank account without a Passport etc just to see how hard it is.