Experts' Warning

19 October 2005



Microsoft Opposes UK ID Card on Security Grounds

Microsoft is not this journal’s favorite company, and its software is not terribly well esteemed here. Nonetheless, it has some of the sharpest techies in the world working for it. So, when Microsoft's National Technology Officer for the UK writes an op-ed piece about technology, it’s worth reading. When he suggests that Mr. Blair’s proposed national ID card may allow “massive identity fraud on a scale beyond anything we have seen before,” the policy is worth scuttling.

Writing in The Scotsman, Jerry Fishenden, the top Brit techie for Mr. Gates, opined that the ID card is designed wrongly – not from a technology perspective but rather from a data management one. Succinctly, he said, “Putting all of our personal identity information in a single place is something that no technologist would ever recommend: it leads to increased and unnecessary risk. And it is poor security and poor privacy practice.”

A national ID card is, of course, an infringement on traditional British liberties that those on the Continent or in North America may have trouble understanding. The police and other authorities do not have the right to know one’s identity or one’s business unless they have reason to suspect some form of criminal action or intent. This freedom has eroded over the years, especially due to terrorist threats going back decades. But the principle remains – no national ID card because it infringes on personal privacy.

Yet, what Mr. Blair wants is more than an ID card. He wants a central repository of all personal data relying on biometrics for security. Yet, as Mr. Fishenden notes, a pub landlord doesn’t need to know anything about a customer except that he or she is 18 – the legal drinking age in the UK. If one is arrested for protesting against the G-8 in Gleneagles, does the criminal system need to know one’s credit status, medical history or private stock portfolio details?

Perhaps this is a case where the politicians and business people need to listen very carefully to what the technical people are saying. David Heath, the Lib Dem constitutional affairs spokesman, said, "On balance, I prefer the evidence of the bosses of Microsoft to the minister on these matters.” But still, the Blairites won another vote in Commons on this ill-conceived idea. Perhaps it would make sense to hold Mr. Blair and those who vote “aye” financially liable for any identity theft that occurs thanks to this poor design.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
Produced using Fedora Linux.

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