You can’t change your fingerprint like a 4-digit PIN

nick cowen, 6 March 2008

ID cards are being re-branded. The objective remains exactly the same, to create a national database with an associated biometric ID card. The difference is the softly, softly approach to introducing them to keep the scheme associated with the public’s security fears. It will cover first non-EU migrants, then ‘sensitive personnel’ such as baggage handlers, followed by those who work with children. Very similar to the plan as set out in a leaked internal document from earlier this year.
While the new structure to the scheme will certainly be easier to spin, the more essential problem remains how government can be trusted with more of our personal data. Just yesterday, a National Audit Office report found that the criminal justice system handles data so poorly that two-thirds of parole cases are deferred because necessary information is frequently unavailable. Perhaps Jacqui Smith should be trying to sort out this wasteful mess before spinning for creating a brand new one? The government line tends to be ‘this will be different, this uses biometric information which will keep identities secure’. However, as the Guardian journalist Ben Goldacre explained last year, remarkably cheap methods for fooling fingerprint scans have already been discovered. And once your biometric data has been stolen, it is rather difficult to get a new set like one can with bank security numbers!