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back to article IPS turns to asylum for help with ID scheme database

Plans to use the Department of Work & Pensions' giant Customer Information Systems database for the UK's identity scheme have been officially abandoned, in favour of an enhancement of the UK Border Agency's biometric database for asylum seekers. First they came for the foreigners, as they say... According to the Identity & …

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  1. Tom Chiverton 1
    Stop

    Umm

    The existing government approved proof of age scheme cards already have holograms, see the leaflet PDF from http://www.validateuk.co.uk/retailers.html where the 'PASS' logo is clearly a hologram (bottom left of page 2).

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    1. Nero
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      WTF?

      Tom is right - all PASS cards have a hologram. So how is this a cunning government conspiracy exactly?

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      1. John Lettice (Written by Reg staff)
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        Re: WTF?

        Oh all right. I'm far too old to have ever crossed swords with a proof of age card, so I bow to the superior knowledge of the younger lot.

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        1. Tom Chiverton 1
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          Ahh well

          Ahh well, just another thing ID cards can't help with then :-)

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  2. John A Blackley

    Disappearing up its own....................?

    The government wants everyone to have proof of identity. One form of proof of identity is a bank account. So, if you have no other proof of identity, the government forces banks to give you a bank account. Except. The bank requires proof of identity before you can open a bank account.

    I saw Alice In Wonderland the other day. It all seemed logical and mundane compared to government policy.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    yeah, this is a title

    "everyone with a national insurance number, up to 85 million records"

    Official population figures puts the UK population at 61.4 million (a number i suspect is seriously underestimated). Where do the extra 24 million NI records come from? This figure also doesn't include people under the age of 16 (I think it's 16). Assume 700,000 births a year and you're looking at another 11 million people, 85+11 = 96 million, some of these will be expat, but is this a better estimate of the UK population?

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    1. John Lettice (Written by Reg staff)
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      Re: yeah, this is a title

      There are more NI numbers than there are people in the country, and some of the entries are for dead people, apparently. I've no idea how long they keep them.

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  4. TheRevP
    FAIL

    It's all gone a little catch 22...

    Or to put it another way get yourself a nice can of Bouncy Bubble Beverage while you wait for the UV paint you've cornered yourself with to dry.

    The card and/or database won't save anyone from terrorists and it sure as hell won't stop under age drinking.

    As has been pointed out, there's plenty of ID's out there to choose from already, can't see another being added to the list helping.

    There are so many better ways for the cash to be spent (chocolate tea pots for everyone in the country! Come on... that's got to be an election winner!) I wish they'd just give up flogging this poor dead horse and give it a decent burial

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Stop it already!

    This will make it much easier for Mossad to steal not just your identity but everything else too.

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  6. John Smith 19 Gold badge
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    Do IPS sound, just a *little* desperate?

    Scared off trying to hook up with an industrial strength DB application when the likely winner of the next GE has stated publicly they will dump it.

    Trying the old statutory instrument game.

    You'd almost think they knew their time was running out.

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  7. Luther Blissett

    Notable legal precendent here

    > This effectively forces pub landlords to demand passport, ID card or driving licence as proof of age.

    Yet, as the case of Baroness Scotchland of Tonga demonstrated, it's one thing to compel documents to be inspected, another to compel the distinguishing between the real and the fake.

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  8. dreamingspire
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    What about second childhood?

    The SI rule is no good for wrinklies who look too young to be imbibing, 'cos the bus pass, while it has a hologram, does not include DoB (despite Mystic Meg apparently thinking it can be used as proof of age).

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