Journalist, editor, analyst and trainer on computing, government, climate and data
The Identity and Passport Service has confirmed that passports will in future require extra information from applicants – their fingerprints
Gordon Brown told the Labour party conference that new passport applications would require no more information than was required at present. The Identity and Passport Service said this was true… except for applicants having to give their fingerprints.
All articles on ID cards here. Continue reading “Government reverses Brown’s passport pledge”
Devon and Cornwall Police has published the location of some of its road surveillance cameras on its website, despite these normally being secret
This was the first article in a long series on police ANPR, based on the Freedom of Information request mentioned here. It eventually led to a Guardian page lead story in August 2012 – based on the information gleaned from the eventual failure of the FoI request, which revealed a “patchy” national system – and an article for MATTER published in August 2013 which I co-edited.
Continue reading “Devon force divulges ANPR towns online”
A council using automatic numberplate recognition to manage traffic has released the locations of the cameras, having previously refused to do so
Oxfordshire county council initially refused to provide the locations of its then-new ANPR traffic camera sites, but did so when I requested the data under Freedom of Information – to its credit, only nine days after I asked. Police forces have taken a somewhat less co-operative view on this subject. Continue reading “Oxfordshire reveals ANPR traffic camera sites”
If the Conservative Party wants to scrap identity cards, it should also scrap or reduce plans to fingerprint passport applicants, argues SA Mathieson
As the general election neared, Conservative and LibDem opposition to identity cards made their future look doubtful. However, it was harder to see whether a new government would keep fingerprints for passports. In the event, the coalition scrapped them as well as ID cards.
All articles on ID cards. Continue reading “The myths of the fingerprints”
The Identity and Passport Service has announced the impending awards of two of the National Identity Scheme’s main contracts to CSC and IBM
This interview showed that the Identity and Passport Service, responsible for delivering the national identity scheme, was carefully planning for a future without ID cards in April 2009. All articles on ID cards here.
Continue reading “CSC and IBM win ID contracts”