Everywhere, your ID and database information will be checked by CCTV and mobile hand-held devices
 ID Cards not needed
     

campaign links | media articles | publications | manufacturers |

There are 2.5 million CCTV cameras in the UK

These resources suggest that biometric facial recognition would be part of a UK ID Card National Database Register and will be integral to a global system of biometric passports, without the need of additional regulation. But why does the recent speech by David Blunkett(1) and commentary by Tony Blair(2), the ID Card Bill(3) and its Explanatory notes(4) make no specific reference to facial biometrics? With the Race Equality and Regulatory Impact Assessments(5) making scant commentary. Could it be that, from 2005,(6) they will form part of the newly issued UK passports and therefore not much explicit comment is needed?

Further material:

Online demonstration of an automatic facial recognition system

Demo
Online demo of automatic facial recognition: http://www.biodentity.com/newsite2/intro.swf - If needed, download a flash player to view: http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download...

Video of minister confirming the intention to use biometric facial, fingerprint and iris ID systems

"we doubt whether the pressure to use (an automatic biometric facial recognition system)...could be resisted forever by future governments"
Home Affairs committee: July 2004 (6 months not too long then...?)

Question: "How are you going to check?" (Audience member)
Answer: "We will have a completely clean [ database ] and when you have your ID Cards we will then have [ fingerprints ], we then have the possibility of [ facial recognition ], we will also have the possibility of [ iris recognition ], so we will actually be able to see who you say you are..."
Hazel Blears MP: Home Office Minister of State for counter-terrorism, resilience issues, crime reduction, policing and community safety.
BBC Question Time 2 December 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/4064217.stm

Comments on the move toward compulsory ID Cards

Move towards compulsory ID cards
"It is thought they would be based on the Applicant Registration Cards (ARC), launched for all new asylum seekers last week"
5 February 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1802847.stm

Concerns about a database surveillance society

Government databases risk surveillance society, says Information Commissioner
"The UK is in danger of 'sleepwalking into a surveillance society' according to data protection watchdog Richard Thomas. In an interview with The Times, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas echoed Computing's Data Debate campaign about the unco-ordinated proliferation of government databases including the planned identity card register, the citizen information project and the database of all children. Thomas is also critical of the government's lack of clarity over plans for ID cards.
http://www.computing.co.uk/news/1157343

Lack of regulations over use of CCTV and automatic facial recognition in public places

Despite government assurances about ID Cards and function creep, CCTV remains virtually unregulated and CCTV facial recognition systems are already used extensively by public authorities throughout the UK, so what would stop any facial biometric taken under the ID Card scheme not being used in mass CCTV surveillance or Law enforcement? After all the idea that our civil rights will be protected(7) by ID Cards suggests that the biometric data provided must get checked by the state in an organised and technological way.

 

Biometric Face Check Verify


Current biometric database fingerprint checking of the public

Is the recent checking of fingerprint biometrics on London's underground public transport system an indicator of the future of automatic CCTV biometric facial recognition?

Police State
"The impact of these spot checks should not be underestimated. Immigration officials (clad in body armour and carrying handcuffs) question suspects for up to 40 minutes, in full view of other passengers, while their details are checked on wireless laptops and fingerprint-scanning (biometric) technology linked to national databases.The police and immigration services have combined in a new "street sweep" operation that targets passengers on the London Underground and passers-by in the street. Their crime? Looking foreign."
http://www.asylumpolicy.info/policestate.htm and

Excuse me…are you British?
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/issues/are-you-british-.shtml

Watching your every move
There are 2.5 million CCTV cameras in the UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1789157.stm

Racism and technological segregation

Racism is overt and covert and often evidenced by the denial of services, could this mean a new form of racism based on the idea that only if you have the 'right' biometrics will you have access to public services and the right to work, for example? The concept of 'race' is pseudo-scientific, will the science of biometrics create a new form of 'race' resulting in an absolute form of segregation achieved through technology?

Internal immigration controls for everyone

The end of ID Cards and automatic database ID checks by CCTV and hand-held mobile devices

The basis of these comments are that Mr Blunkett said that the ID Cards would eventually not be needed, or 'superfluous' in his words and that they would 'protect our civil liberties'. As well as the observation that most of the media and public debate surrounds the actual issues of any compulsion to show an ID Card and the situations were the police and others could ask to see a card or impose penalties for not showing or having a card. This ignores how, currently manufactured(8), hand-held and CCTV devices can be used to verify a persons biometrics, were they are contained on a database. Therefore our civil liberties could end up being 'protected', not by having and showing an ID Card, but our willingness to have our database biometrics checked, which seems to invoke additional issues. Especially as CCTV facial recognition could be carried out without knowledge or consent, as is the current practice of many public authorities and private companies throughout the UK and elsewhere. In July 2004 the House of Commons Home Affairs committee asked about how many biometric readers would be needed and said that the use of 'facial recognition technology' could not be 'resisted' forever.

"It is also likely that that facial recognition technology will develop to the point where an individual captured on a CCTV camera could potentially be identified from the National Identity Register. Again, we doubt whether the pressure to use the system in this way could be resisted forever by future governments."
Home Affairs Committee

Face in the crowd

"We don't know how many …biometric readers will be needed…"
Home Affairs Committee

Whilst there are indicators of a general acceptance of ID Cards, this acceptance only seems to relate to a questions about possession of a card, not the full potential of automatic biometric checking and recognition when such a card became 'superfluous'?

"Eight in 10 (80%) of the adult British population say they are in favour of ID cards, and slightly more (83%) say they would be happy to carry the card at all times."
http://www.mori.com/pubinfo/rmw/a-question-of-identity.shtml

Maybe a poll could be undertaken to ask whether people would accept mass surveillance through biometric technology and whether people would be happy to be submitted to the kinds of biometric checks that regularly take place on London Public Transport. Not to mention the current use of CCTV automatic facial recognition cameras in a street near you today!

"Cameras are combined with databases using 'facial recognition technology' to scan and automatically identify people's faces in crowds."
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/privacy/cctv.shtml

Conclusion: Resistance is futile

Will it be futile to resist these developments or are we to live in a Big Brother surveillance society that even George Orwell could not have imagined?

Campaign links:

No2ID
http://www.no2id.com/
Stand
http://www.stand.org.uk/


Media reports:

'State racism' fears over ID cards
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/2094000.stm

How your face could open doors (or keep them closed)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4035285.stm

Publications:

JCWI: Electronic monitoring of asylum seekers
Article:
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/currentnews/Electronic%20monitoring%20article.pdf
Press statement:
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/currentnews/31elecmonstatement.pdf
Fact Sheet
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/currentnews/mediafactsheet

The Refugee Council’s response to Government proposals on legislation on identity cards
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/downloads/policy_briefings/id_cards_july04.pdf

Manufacturers

Aurora
" The UK’s leading provider of cost-effective software solutions utilising innovative facial
recognition technologies.
http://www.facerec.com/index.html

BioDentity Systems Corporation
http://www.biodentity.com

identix
http://www.identix.com/

References:

1) Blunket: Identity Cards Speech
"...the card itself will become superfluous
We think that we should endeavour to use 3 biometric identifiers as a safeguard for all of us.
Technology (biometric readers?) would allow you simply to move past or to put 3 or 2 fingers over a particular laser for the identity to be reflected in terms of the database.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/identitycards_041118speech.htm

2) ID cards 'protect services and improve security'
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page6687.asp

3) Identity Cards Bill
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmbills/008/2005008.htm

4) Explanatory Notes: Identity Cards Bill
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmbills/008/en/05008x--.htm

5) Race Equality Impact Assessment: Identity Cards Bill
"Despite the low levels of knowledge regarding biometric information, the majority of UK respondents were in favour of providing all three of the types of
biometric details (fingerprints, a facial digital photograph, and an iris digital photograph) – at least 75% in each case.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/reia_241104.pdf
Note: Do these 'levels of knowledge' indicate informed consent? Or offer assurance that 'UK respondents' were making a distinction between a standard digital photo and the technology used to create biometric facial images for automatic recognition?
and
Regulatory Impact Assessment : Identity Cards Bill
"As with any project of this size and complexity there is a great deal of development work to be done before it is possible to finalise all the operational details, including the precise technical arrangements for recording biometric identifiers such as facial image, finger scans and iris images,which will provide a way of uniquely confirming the identity of cardholders.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/ria_251104.pdf
Note: The technology is already in use in the UK and the US, with people seeking asylum in Britain being a testing ground for biometric ID Cards since January 2002
"The first new high-tech biometric cards for asylum applicants will come hot off the press today in Croydon."
http://www.asylumsupport.info/news/homeoffice/fingerprints.htm

6) The UKPS biometrics enrolment trial
The UKPS will implement a facial recognition biometric (which can be taken from a passport photograph) in the British Passport book in accordance with international standards in 2005.

Biometric collection and recognition Facial recognition, iris pattern and fingerprint images were nominated the most suitable biometrics for use at border
controls and passport issuance by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in May 2003.
http://www.ukps.gov.uk/news/news.asp?strAreaNo=320&intelement=784
Referring to:
ICAO
Biometric Identification to Provide Enhanced Security and Speedier Border Clearance For Travelling Public
"The face has long been used by border control authorities and airline staff at airports to confirm identity with a "photo ID". Facial recognition technology automates this process, using a camera to capture the image of the face, while a computer validates facial characteristics.
ICAO also has selected high-capacity, contactless integrated circuit (IC) chips to store identification information in MRTDs -- passports, visas and identity cards.
http://www.icao.int/icao/en/nr/2003/pio200309.htm

7) Blunkett: ID cards will protect civil liberties
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/n_story.asp?item_id=1150

8) Biometric equipment being used in the UK

Aurora
" The UK’s leading provider of cost-effective software solutions utilising innovative facial
recognition technologies.
http://www.facerec.com/index.html

BioDentity Systems Corporation
http://www.biodentity.com

identix
http://www.identix.com/

9) US Home Land Security Association
http://www.hsianet.org

Published: 1 December 2004 - amended 3/12/04
EXILE: http://www.exile.org.uk


 

 

 

http://www.exile.org.uk/notneeded.htm