Why so expensive to get ID in the UK? Why no free national identity cards?

brianposter

The problem with ID cards is that when they exist people ask for them so they automatically waste a lot of time. And when you have not got one with you they are liable to waste even more time.

Kim_13

unforeseen said:

Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

Because the people who wear tinfoil hats made a fuss about how the government would be able to track them and gather more information.

That was never going to be free either, though I imagine the plans to add biometrics were adding to the cost compared to if it had been a standard photo ID which I am in favour of.

A provisional driving licence is easier and cheaper to get, update and replace if lost or stolen than a passport. The 16 year old can apply and receive a licence now due to the minimum age for a moped being 16 rather than 17.

If a driving licence is lost, a replacement costs £20 rather than the original £43 for a postal application (I understand that a passport is needed to apply for a driving licence online at the lower fees.) Updating a photo at the 10 year point is £17. Licence fees don’t go up every year like passport ones seem to, and have actually gone down since I got mine.

A passport is £88.50 online currently regardless of whether it’s a first application, a renewal or to replace one that has been lost, stolen or damaged.

400ixl

PocketWatchMan said:

400ixl said:

86.5% of the adult UK population have a current passport, 75% have a driving license. With some overlap you are probably north of 90% having one of the forms of identification.

Given that only 2.1% of the population do not have a bank account it does not seem to be a big issue and spending billions for a small percentage makes little sense.

Can't say I know of any adult or teenager who does not have a bank account. Some of those I know do not have passports or driving licenses so it must be possible to do it with other sources with a bit of effort.

Personally a national Identity wallet would be a good idea and allowing the citizen to decide what data can be stored on it and who can access it is a good idea and is the way that Scandinavia is going. To make it a digital wallet for far more use is the only way to really make it affordable, and giving the control to the citizen the only way to make it acceptable.

Nice idea in a perfect world.. though in the real world no Government will allow citizens only to decide what data can be stored on their ID wallet. they might wax lyrical about how they say they will, but they will never allow it, ultimately. certainly not in the long run. 

Secondly if this were a digital wallet, I can assure you that no criminal would use their own ID. within very short order, probably hours, they will use yours. or your family members. You only have to look around you and digital theft is consistently soaring.. and what happens when your personal data is in someone else's hands. newsflash: you will never ever get it all back. 

Cast your mind back a few years, when Apple proudly announced that their new biometrics system made their iphone uncrackable in the hands of criminals - that pride lasted almost a full day. before it was bypassed. Check out any number of security podcasts, or crime forums, and you will see demos where people's phones, or digital banking, can be compromised in literally minutes. Heck, just go over a few forums on here, and stories about online banking fraud, phone theft and fraud, are a dime a dozen. 

Actually outside of the core identity which is government controlled many already allow other digital identities to be stored (Scandinavia for banking) and for who can access the wallet for what details. Outside of identity this is already a thing (OpenID for one example) and has proven to be very safe whilst being open and user controlled.

So no, your criminals using your ID is by no means likely, let alone a certainty.

For Apple if you mean the glasses trick, then you still need the person. Or the photo trick then the odds of it working at very low. Or even the Korean face mask trick which means building models at $200 a go and is not scalable.

Yes there are cases of poor security and breaches, there are equally many cases of high security with functionality and no breaches. If digital wallets wallets were as easy to breach as you claim, then crypto currency would never have gotten to where it is now.

Digital wallets are already in existence and proven to be secure. I have worked with one where the citizen's health record can be accessed, but only by consent of the individual. You can for example agree to share it with the regional ambulance service so should you be in an accident they can see it. You can share part of it with your insurance provider so there is no doubt about pre-existing conditions, or to claim reductions for life insurance by proving physical activity data via sharing of health data from your smart devices. Some of these will drive fear into some and they won't want to share, others will see benefit and will. Put them in control and they can choose.

Not likely be something in the UK for a long while in the terms of official government ID but other countries are well down the line so hopefully we can just adopt something down the line.

penners324

unforeseen said:

Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

Because the people who wear tinfoil hats made a fuss about how the government would be able to track them and gather more information.

More to do with it costing umpteen billion pounds. Probably built by Fujitsu and run by a huge department of civil servants. So would have been a disaster