Govt 'should step back' from identity strategy

The government's agenda of tailoring public services to the need of individuals has dangerous implications, a thinktank warns today.

Jill Kirkby, director of the Centre for Police Studies (CPS) thinktank, questions whether a state making "value judgments" about individuals' suitability to services is in the public interest.

She describes the controversial identity cards scheme as the "tip of an iceberg of information" being collected by the government, which has already admitted its desire to develop a "deep truth" about each citizen based on their "behaviour, experiences, beliefs, needs or desires".

Its goals may be laudable but the methods used could have negative impacts for accountability at an individual level, Ms Kirkby argues.

"Gordon Brown has recently hinted that allocation of NHS resources could be affected by lifestyle, in order to make people recognise their 'responsibilities', she notes.

"It is therefore not hard to conceive of a state which makes value judgments about an individual's suitability to benefit from certain services, and which allocates those services on the basis of a set of criteria (such as income, educational background or lifestyle) of which the individual may be unaware."

The government's possession of personal information is in the headlines at present after a series of embarrassing personal information leaks emerged last year. The worst of these cases, involving HM Revenue and Customs, saw officials lose details of 25 million child benefit claimants.

Ms Kirkby says the planned expansion of the government's identity management strategy places a strain on national IT schemes which its previous record shows is unrealistic.

"Recent data losses show that current levels of security are inadequate to protect personal information," she concludes.

"Is there now a stronger case than ever before for rolling back the state, decentralising service provision and putting power in the hands of individuals and families?"