Re-posted from archive of infinite ideas machine 2004: [LINKS UNCHECKED]
ID Data seem to think they are in with a chance of getting the contract for Blunkett’s ID cards:
ID Data has made its first move to be seriously considered as a supplier of choice for the UK’s National ID Card.At Intellect’s high profile conference* attended by leading Home Office personnel and industry leaders, ID Data presented a challenging solution to the Government’s needs for a mass issue of ID cards.
Peter Cox, CEO of ID Data plc, presented the Company’s views on how they could assist the Government’s plans to implement ID Cards within the UK.
*That’ll be the closed industry event that the Home Office attended, the Monday after the Thursday on which they decided not to attend or be represented at the public LSE meeting on ID cards…
I think Atos Origin might have a few things to say about this! After all, it must have cost them quite a pretty penny to take over Schlumberger Sema earlier this year (who themselves had been lobbying hard for the introduction of biometric ID cards, and had by that point been chosen by the Home Office to run the UKPS biometric enrollment trial) and they’ll be looking for a return on their investment.
The pity is that this is one of those situations where you want neither David or Goliath to win. It would be a tragedy of the highest order for us to lose our right to privacy, the presumption of innocence and the ability to assert our own identities in the mere pursuit of shareholder value.