We at Oaksys Tech Ltd support the principle of National Identity Cards, but what is shown in the current draft legislation is poorly written bad legislation. From a brief reading of the Whitepaper on the Identity Cards Bill (2005) here are our comments as of 27th May 2005. No doubt many of these problems will be weeded out at the Committee Stage of reading the Bill, but currently this document is stating the UK Government intentions. Some of the potential implications are quite draconian. The Home Office are trying to invest themselves with excessive powers by having vaguely worded legislation and many issues covered by secondary legislation.
	If you fail to turn up at the registration point for the National Identity Card, e.g. Police Station, to register within the time scale you can be fined £2500 (Section 6.4). What happens if you are out of the country when the demand to attend/register arrives on your doormat?
	If you change your place of residence and fail to notify the Home Office you can be fined £1,000 per person (Section 12.6). There are no exceptions to the rules to cover people living in mobile accommodation, such as Canal Boats dwellers, University Students, Travelling people, long term hospital or Nursing home attendance, prisoners. There are no provisions for people physically unable to attend.
	If you recklessly provide false information for the National Register you can face a prison sentence of up to 2 years and or fines (Section 30). So do not call yourself “Mickey Mouse” or say that you have lived at 10 Downing Street or encourage other people to do so. This applies even if you are in another country at the time (Section 31.4). If you countersign someone else’s application for an Identity Card and the application proves to be false you can be subject to criminal prosecution even if you thought the details were correct.
	If you fail to renew in time when the card expires, i.e. go to the Police Station etc, when the card expires you can be fined £1000 (Section 9.5). This is a new rule that does not exist with UK passports at present.
	If you lose the card, damage the card or it is stolen you have to notify the “Secretary of State” or you can be fined £1000 (Section 13). There is no definition of what comprises "damage" and that could be widely interpreted by an eager Police Constable or junior Civil Service Clerk.
	If you are found in possession of an Id Card which is not yours you can be fined £1,000 unless that other person (owner) has given permission (Section 13.6). There is no age limit on the person wrongly holding the card.
	If you find an Id Card in the street you must surrender it to the Home Office "as soon as possible" or you can be fined £1000 (Section 13.6). Once again there is no age limitation of the person on which this civil fine can be imposed.
	There are no constraints on releasing the data held for an individual on the National Register to a foreign power.
	Businesses will not be allowed, by law (Section 18.1), to refuse services to a member of the public who cannot produce an identity card. So in effect the National Id Card is meaningless as a proof of identity outside of Government business.
	Details of your fingerprints and other biometrics can be released to the police or Security Services without you having been arrested or convicted of crime. (Section 19). This can be done without your consent. This means that your photograph can be used for automatic facial recognition cameras.
	There is no clear definition of the limits of what constitutes Biometric information. There is no specific exclusion of the personal DNA/Gene Pattern or skin colour. (Schedule 1 Section 2). In theory the Home Office will be able to demand the nicknames by which you are or have been known (Schedule 1 Section 1.b). So will you have to declare that you were called “Smelly” whilst you were at school?
	The Home Office will have the power to demand data about you from other Government departments. (Section 11) in order to check the records on the National Register. If the Home Office finds that the data supplied by the other Department is wrong they are allowed to tell the supplying department the changes (Section 21.2).
	There is no right defined in the White Paper for the individual to check all of the data relating to himself that is held on the National Register. Whilst the individual has to notify updates to the Home Office, there is no right defined for the individual to correct the entries held on the National Register if it is wrong. So if someone manages to steal your identity and get that data entered on the National Register there is no right of correction or any restitution from the Government of damages arising. In later documents, the Secretary of State says this covered by the Data Protection Act, but why can't this be explicitly covered in the National Id Card Act?
	If you produce a colour photocopy of your or someone else’s Identity Document, Driving Licence issued by any country or Passport from any country and do not clearly mark the copy as a “Copy” you could be deemed to be in possession of a false identity document unless you have a “reasonable excuse”. You could face up to 2 years in prison and or fines for this crime. There are similar penalties for owning the photocopier or printer that produced the false document. (Section 27.5).
	If a Civil penalty fine is imposed by the Home Office you have to pay the amount in full by the specified date. If you do not appeal and do not pay and the Home Office resorts to Recovery of the penalty you are not allowed to question the amount of the penalty, whether you are liable or whether the imposition of the penalty was unreasonable (Section 33.6). The period by which an appeal must be made is not defined.
	There is no clear information about the status of “Non-persons” where for whatever reason the Secretary of State has cancelled and withdrawn the National Id Card. Does this person become a "Non-person" at the pleasure of the Secretary of State?