As with most IT systems, it's not just the database or the ID cards that are the problem (although they are a pretty big problem), it's the faith people put in what the computers tell them.

Little Britain got it so right with the "The computer says 'no' " sketches.

The people are an integral part of any system. What is Jane actually going to be able to do when confronted with John denying her access to services (or liberty) based on what the computer 'says'. John's operational 'procedures' won't allow him to listen to any protests that 'the computer' might just be wrong. Jane will be asking "can I go home now?" and John's answer will be "the computer says 'no' ".

I have absolutely no faith in any government's ability to put in place working procedures across multiple agencies to ensure that data quality/accuracy problems can be dealt with rapidly, fairly and accurately. They're going to concentrate on the sexy technology and conveniently forget about the processes and checks/balances to wrap around it.

stop covering up what they really want to do in the guise of some kind of mega-identification database and

tattoo everyone at birth,

then they'll have a real biometric that refers directly to the unique key field in their db.

Because this is what it really is about.

Sign up to the No2ID campaign to stop this abuse of reason before it’s too late.

http://www.no2id.net

Just like other super hitech, billion pound technologies, it will be defeated by simple technology.

Facial recognistion at 200yrds & Iris at 15ft.

Big Sunglasses and a bushy beard anyone?

I am all in favour of these big friendly giants.

I think the idea behind losing all the data discs they can involves gathering all the fingerprints they need when they finally locate them.

The longer they are missing the more filthy criminals will get their dirty hands on them and the more crooks they will be able to identify.

I think I got that right didn't I? That's the reasoning behind the giant databases in the first place, some kind of a sting operation? Is that right?

It may surprise everybody, but there has yet to be a large scale test of the uniqueness of fingerprints. While finding duplicates in (apart from identical twins) will be rare in the small criminal databases, once you are using the entire population of a country (300M in the case of the US) duplicates will be come inevitable. This is especially so as the automated systems do not compare actual prints, just mathematical abstractions.

As for the other techniques all but iris photographs have huge problems. For example, schemes based on gait (walking) are screwed when someone changes their shoes or is walking on a slippy surface.

As for iris photographs, so far not one terrorist has escaped but left their eyeballs at the scene of the crime...

and drop it off at 1000 bank robberies..

This will greatly improve government efficiency!

They will no longer need to wait for you to get on a tube train, or to carry a table leg down the street. They can mis-identify you from 200 yards away and send the armed police out.

Oh, and the Science Fiction angle? How could a government database go wrong? There was a short story some time back (60's?). I can't remember the author or title. Someone was accused of having an overdue library book - "Kidnapped", by Robert Louis Stevenson. It somehow got on the computer that he had kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson. Since the kidnap victim was dead, this carried a mandatory death sentence. The governor tried to stop the execution but the computer would not let him (and threatened him with punishment).

So if you have had retinal surgery, cataract lens replacement, and at least 2 other surgeries they'll be completely b*ggered trying to read your eyes. having worked in a MoD Top Secret lab with retinal scans, the list above is hardly complete as to what will cause this to fail. Besides, you could just go to your local undertaker and snarf a few 'balls and put them in a pair of glasses and they'd be ID'ing dead people. Fools!

""Kidnapped", by Robert Louis Stevenson. It somehow got on the computer that he had kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson."

As the other man points out, that's "Computers Don't Argue", a minor classic. The main character was called Walter A. Child, and he ended up being executed for the kidnap and murder of a child called Robert Louis Stevenson.

The same anthology also had a story in which there was a prison camp, and on account of convention and fear of what might happen if they transgressed, the prisoners guarded themselves; they manned the machine gun nests and swung the truncheons. They received instructions from an unseen voice that came out of a bunker. Inside the bunker there was no authority, just a computer playing back a large library of stock phrases. One day the voice stopped, and the prisoners went into the bunker and found that the computer was broken; so they turned it back on, and punished each other for going into the bunker. I think it was a metaphor.

It is my pet theory that the current iris recognition craze can be traced directly back to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I believe that politicians are a shallow lot, who are easily influenced by articles they read in the Sunday supplements, and films they see on television, and I cannot think of an earlier use of iris recognition as a security device in a Hollywood film, except perhaps the old Gerry Anderson film Doppleganger, although I am not sure in that case if the eye was just a means of hiding a camera, breathe in.

"Its like the science fiction stories with the global network taking over the world, taking over from individual contries, only its not some fantastic computer 'brain' but an effective network of law enforcement and security services. Oh boy, are we screwed or what!"

Martin,

MeThinks in Real Life that would be some fantastic computer 'brain' with an effective network of law enforcement and security services.

Never been screwed by a SeXXXXy Spy, Martin? Don't answer that if it discriminates against you is Wise Counsel. :-)

* What do you reckon the Current Future Beta Program is, and who is Driving IT? And Programs cannot Grow without New Drivers for Immaculately Conceived Tools/Digital Keys.

Sovieted Alien Networking Treaties Alliance is such a Available Key built on the Respect of Trust and an Open Book Mind.

Has anyone tried fooling an iris scanner with a life sized photo of a registered iris ? Would this work?