Monday, March 06, 2006

ID card bill defeated in the HL

Further to my earlier posting, the House of Lords (HL) has defeated the ID card bill by a majority of 61 (227 to 166 against the government). The main area of disagreement is the requirement to have ID cards if anyone applies to renew their passport (or apply for a passport). So, where does that leave us? The bill will now return to the House of Commons for another round of debate. If there is no compromise between the two Houses, then we may see the Parliament Act being invoked.

I am including details of the latest press release, Parlimentlive TV (once the clip is available), the ID card bill and UK OIC's view on ID cards.

Although the bill is going through Parliament, we need to be reminded whether the bill is proportionate or goes further than what is necessary (ie. holding biometric data such as fingerprints/irises)? Similarly, it is hard to see how a database containing everyone's personal data could reconcile with the need to safeguard fundamental data protection principles such as fair processing? This is particularly the case if this data should become available to commercial organisations - no plans as yet, but the possibility is still there and we should not quickly dismiss this option!

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