Unknown how many cards are out there, says watchdog

Tom Young writes in Computing:

It is impossible to tell whether identity cards have been obtained fraudulently, according to the first report by the Office of the Identity Commissioner.

Identity Commissioner Sir Joseph Pilling was appointed to oversee the government’s ₤5.4bn National Identity Scheme and issued his first update today.

Although widely supportive of the way the scheme is being introduced by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), Pilling’s report says: “By definition it will always be impossible to know how many cards have been obtained fraudulently. At this very early stage when the number might well be none, it is not even possible to make an informed guess.”

Once again questions are being asked about the expensive and unnecessary national ID card scheme.