Compulsory powers to fingerprint and photograph 700,000 foreigners a year who live in Britain as part of the national identity card scheme were announced on Tuesday by British Home Secretary John Reid, as the scope of what critics see as a future "big brother" state became clearer.
At the same time, 150 screening centers around the world are to be set up in 18 months so that biometric data -- electronic fingerprints and photos -- can be taken and stored from passengers coming to Britain from 169 countries outside Europe.
But Reid confirmed that the Home Office's original plans for one huge new database to store the details of everyone resident in Britain have had to be scaled back on the grounds of expense as the government tries to cut the estimated ?5.4 billion (US$10.6 billion) cost of introducing ID cards.
The controversial national identity register, which will store everyone's biometric fingerprints and photographs as well as personal biographical details, will now be housed on three separate existing government computer systems.
Reid denied Tuesday that this was a U-turn, although the computer industry has widely seen the decision as a significant change of tack: "Doing something sensible is not necessarily a U-turn," Reid said.
"We have decided it is lower-risk, more efficient and faster to take the infrastructure that already exists, although the data will be drawn from other sources," he said.
An "action plan" produced by the Home Office on Tuesday said that existing Department for Work and Pensions technology for national insurance records would store biographical parts of a per-son's national identity entry.
Under the plan, Home Office systems used to hold data on asylum seekers will be expanded to hold the biometric photographs and fingerprints.
Private companies will be invited to bid for contracts for developing these databases in the next six months.
The Home Office claimed that the split between different databases would guard against malicious or fraudulent damage.
Reid said that it would also reduce the overall ?5.4 billion cost of the ID project but declined to give a new estimate, saying it would be reported to parliament next April.
He also confirmed that the current price excludes issuing the compulsory resident permits to foreign nationals living in Britain.
Increased fees and charges for renewing their visas are expected to cover the extra cost.
While ID cards are unlikely to be compulsory for British residents before 2011, foreign nationals will have to give their fingerprints for a compulsory foreigners' ID card beginning in 2008.
Biometric checks conducted on non-European travellers to Britain from 2008 would involve a "triple check" before they boarded planes, Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne said.
Every person from the 169 countries outside the European Economic Area who intends to work, study or stay in Britain for more than six months will be expected, beginning in 2008, to provide their fingerprints and photograph before they travel.
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