Home Office try to lure London’s students onto ID card database

The 'voluntary' sign-up to the ID card scheme came to the capital today when the Home Office announced that young Londoners could now apply for a National ID card.

As reported in the Evening Standard:

People aged 18 to 24 will be able to spend £30 on a biometric photocard that can be used to prove their age when buying alcohol or age-restricted goods, to gain entry to a nightclub, or even to travel in Europe.

Home Office minister Meg Hillier said that the National Identity Card would be an “extremely useful tool”.

Adding that, “with tough new laws clamping down on underage drinking, it will be more important than ever for young people to have access to a universally accepted proof of age.”

There is a certain irony that while the Home office desperately tries to tackle binge drinking in one campaign, it presents being able to prove one’s age when buying alcohol as a benefit for getting an ID card in another. Clearly whatever works to dupe the young into signing away their personal data is just dandy.

However, what this latest sales pitch neglects to mention is that by signing up, these young Londoners face having their personal details held on insecure government databases for the rest of their lives.

Moreover, in addition to the initial £30, under this intrusive scheme every registered individual will be obliged to notify any changes in their personal information – and failure to do so may incur a fine.

As our friends at No2ID point out, cash-strapped students shouldn't even be thinking about spending £30 on an ID card when a) the Tories and the Lib Dems want rid of them and b) there are plenty of age verification cards available that cost under £10. 

This is just the latest in a series of poorly aimed, poorly thought-out government propaganda pitches for the ID card to encourage (or perhaps lay the ground-work) for full-scale introduction.

By Edward Hockings