ID card scanning system riddled with errors

The Independent on Sunday have discovered something that has been widely known for some time - that ID card scanning systems based on biometric technology are flawed.

"The Government is planning to use face, iris and fingerprint scans to identify people on ID cards. But studies have found that being scanned in the wrong type of light or in shadow could lead to an inaccurate ID, because biometric technology is flawed.

Internal reports for the Government warned that manual labourers whose fingertips are worn or nicked, could find their fingerprints are not recognised. Men who go bald risk being identified as someone else, experts say. Pianists, guitarists and typists - whose fingerprints can be worn down - could also face inaccurate readings.

Government trials have found that the biometrics of black, elderly and disabled people have a higher chance of being incorrectly matched against their true ID. People with eye problems also have a relatively high chance of inaccurate identification."

Which is why CTO, Ian Watmore, has been quietly working behind the scenes to ensure most ID card authentication checks won't be based on scanning biomentrics but on a pin number. Ministers, however, are not really interested in minor details like that though, so expect all the usual overblown rhetoric in the debates this week.