Articles Related to Cards Bill

From Britain comes disturbing news that the country's politicians seek to introduce wide-scale ''biometric'' identity registration for its citizens.On Feb. 11 that nation's House of Commons passed in a 224-to-64 vote the Identity Cards Bill, which calls for the use of biometric identification cards and passports. The bill still has to clear the House of Lords, where critics say it will likely face stiff opposition, but if passed it's expected that biometric identification will go into effect by 2010 and that the documents will become compulsory for all British citizens by 2012. That could set a disturbing precedent for the rest of the world.

The U.K. government on Wednesday reintroduced its high-tech plans for a national identity card program using biometric technology, this time promising to answer concerns raised by the opposition parties earlier in the year over civil liberties and the Home Office's ability to oversee large scale IT projects.

The U.K. government has pulled legislation pending in the Houses of Parliament for a national identity card program using biometric technology, but promised to quickly put the bill back on the national agenda should the Labour party retain its ruling position after the May 6 general election.

Facing likely defeat in the House of Lords, the U.K. government is expected to shelve its plans for a national identity card program using biometric technology until after the next general election.

The U.K. Parliament's House of Commons easily passed a bill on Thursday to establish a system of potentially compulsory biometric identity cards and a central database of all of its citizens. However, the bill's primary sponsor, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, said the ID card bill may hit stiff opposition in the House of Lords.