Number-plate fraud shows how ID cards will fail
2 June 2007
With senior police officers calling for the car number plate system to
be changed because they no longer trust the DVLA database[1], campaign
group NO2ID [2] said that the National Identity Scheme [3] will fail in
the same way.
Supt John Wake of the vehicle Crime Intelligence Service is reported as
saying [1]: "The registration plate is the first form of identification
of the vehicle to the general public. I don't have confidence that
beyond that you can identify that that vehicle is the legitimate vehicle
for that plate."
Guy Herbert, General Secretary of NO2ID said:
"This is a direct consequence of the 'punishment by numbers' strategy of
tracking, taxing and charging motorists based on linking cameras to the
registration database. Once you do that, of course crooks will use other
people’s numbers, and the innocent will be presumed guilty.
"ACPO says the solution is to centralise further. But that’s crazy. It
would means more costs to the driver and the motor-trade AND relying
heavily on the numbers that are issued – no help for those whose cars
are cloned.
"But it can be worse. Think what happens if the Home Office gets its way
and your whole life, not just your use of a car, is tied to a single
number. How many more opportunities will there be for villains to
exploit, and for you to get the blame?"
-ENDS-
Notes for editors:
1) E.g. "The number plate system needs to be completely overhauled to
beat a rise in 'car cloning', police have said. The Association of Chief
Police Officers (Acpo) says a record number of vehicles are being cloned
to escape motoring fines and commit crimes. More than 40,000 sets of
number plates were stolen in 2006, a rise of almost 25%, according to
police estimates." – BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6707367.stm
2) NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the
database state. Scroll down
http://www.no2id.net for a list of 'database
state' initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing. The NUJ is an
affiliate of NO2ID:
http://www.nuj.org.uk/inner.php?docid=1595
3) What is informally called the "ID cards" policy is now officially
known as the National Identity Scheme (See:
http://www.identitycards.gov.uk/scheme.asp )
It is intended to function as a compulsory "identity management" system
for all permanent and temporary residents of the UK, having multiple layers:
* The National Identity Register (NIR);
* Individual checking and numbering of the population;
* 50 categories of personal details made "registrable facts" to be
disclosed and kept updated;
* Collection and checking of biometrics (e.g. fingerprints);
* The ID-card itself (and other documents made equivalent to an ID card);
* Official scanner and computer networks nationwide connected to a
central database;
* Widespread use of compulsory "identity verification"; and
* Data-sharing about citizens between organisations on an unprecedented
scale.
See
http://www.no2id.net/IDSchemes/whyNot.php for a summary of the
potential problems.
For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please
contact Guy Herbert (General Secretary,
general.secretary@no2id.net) on
07956 544 308, Mark Littlewood (Chair,
chair@no2id.net) on 07974 569
299, or Michael Parker (Press Officer,
press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773
376 166.
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