Wednesday 6 October 2010

Identity Documents Bill

The identity documents bill is now through to the House of Lords. A few months back I wrote and submitted a memorandum to the Public Bill Committee of the House of Commons as it was examining the bill. Now that they committee has finished with the bill, they've published all the memoranda here (scroll down). I'm in august company - Liberty, Justice, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, ICO, and the LSE Identity Project - oh, and some people who want the £30 they paid for a card back). I'm not totally sure about the impact of this, but I think its very important for academics with an informed perspective on an issue currently going through parliament to contribute to evidence processes. Especially, if we continue to make a claim for public funding of research.

My submission is here. Generally, there's some interesting process documents scattered around these parliamentary webpages, downside is that a lot of the committee discussion has been about the entitlement of people who signed up for a card to their money back, some maintenance of the ID card system until their cards expire, or some similar special pleading. Part of this would be the structure of the committee, which is to look at the legality and appropriateness of the legistlation set before them - not to come up with innovative solutions to contemporary identity issues.

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