Government plans to introduce the first national identity cards in Britain in more than half a century will help in the fight against terrorism but could threaten liberties, a committee of lawmakers said yesterday.
The Home Office wants to introduce high-tech ID cards bearing biometric data such as electronic fingerprints or iris scans and eventually make them compulsory for all Britons. It hopes to build a national database of biometric details in order to reduce fraud, identity theft, illegal immigration and deter terrorists.
The cards have alarmed civil rights campaigners who claim they infringe personal liberty while other critics say the plan is expensive and question its ability to curb terrorism.
The House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee said in a report published yesterday that it accepted that the ID cards would help in the struggle against illegal activities.
But the panel of lawmakers said it was "extremely concerned" about plans to give Britain's intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 "nearly unfettered access" to the planned national database.
It said individuals should have the right to see the data held on them and know who has accessed that data.
The committee also expressed concern about the Home Office's refusal to publish full details of the finances behind the scheme. The government expects the system to cost ?3.1 billion (US$5.5 billion), but Home Secretary David Blunkett has said he can't give full financial details because of commercial sensitivities.
"This ID card scheme should go ahead but the government must take serious note of the criticism we make of the way the plan is being developed," said committee chairman John Denham, a Labour MP.
Blunkett plans to begin introducing the cards on a voluntary basis in 2007 with a decision on whether to make them compulsory around five years after that.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
RSS