The UK National Identity Card

Currently, the UK government is attempting to relate the rights and entitlements of citizenship with a standard identifier for all British citizens and its representation in a national identity card. This teaching case describes the history of this endeavor as promoted by the UK government and its agencies. It also describes the reaction to these plans on the part of numerous other stakeholder groups within the UK. This is a rich case for examining a number of critical, contemporary issues of relevance to Information Systems practice that are occurring world-wide. On the one hand, such an identity token, if introduced successfully, will act as a significant component in the personal identity management infrastructure supporting e-Government and e- Business in the UK. On the other, its introduction raises major challenges to data protection, data privacy and public trust in the information governance of this nation state

Personal Identification in the Information Age: The Case of the National Identity Card in the UK

The informatics infrastructure supporting the Information Society requires the aggregation of data about individuals in electronic records. Such data structures demand that individuals be uniquely identified and this is critical to the necessary processes of authentication, identification and enrolment associated with the use of e-Business, e-Government and potentially e-Democracy systems. It is also necessary to the representation of human interactions as data transactions supporting various forms of governance structure: hierarchies, markets and networks. In this paper we use the agenda surrounding the proposed introduction of a national identity card in the UK as an empirical backbone for considering the issue of identity management. Currently, the UK government is attempting to relate the rights and entitlements of citizenship in the UK with a standard electronic identifier for British citizens and its instantiation in an ‘entitlements card’. This attempt to define legitimising identity seems to us a potentially fruitful empirical source for examining the conceptual and pragmatic issues associated with identity management in the information age. Such a card offers numerous potential benefits for individuals and organisations but its introduction raises major challenges to data protection, data privacy and public trust in the information governance of the UK

Managing surveillance? The impact of biometric residence permits on UK migrants

On 27 May 2010, the newly formed UK Coalition government announced the cancellation of national identity cards for UK citizens. Yet, foreign nationals remain subject to a separate biometric identity card scheme—renamed ‘Biometric Residence Permits' (BRPs)—currently being rolled out to various categories of migrant. To date, over 300,000 such cards have been issued to various foreign-national groups, including international students, visiting scholars, entrepreneurs, investors and domestic workers. Although research has been conducted on UK immigration policy, there has been little investigation into how foreign nationals view, experience and negotiate BRPs. In this paper, we draw on our own empirical work to examine the impact of BRPs on migrants. From March to December 2010, interviews and participative research were conducted with the Home Office, the UK Border Agency, advocacy and civil society groups, Higher Education Institutions and individual migrants. We consider the extent to which this scheme acts as a means of exercising surveillance and control over foreign nationals, and the ability of these migrants to negotiate around such constraints

Is there a need for identity cards?

Commentary by Stephen Mason on the issues and practicalities involved in government introduction of compulsory registration cards - in particular claims regarding prevention of terrorism and crime. Published in Amicus Curiae – Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by SALS at the IALS (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London)

HandiVote: simple, anonymous, and auditable electronic voting

We suggest a set of procedures utilising a range of technologies by which a major democratic deficit of modern society can be addressed. The mechanism, whilst it makes limited use of cryptographic techniques in the background, is based around objects and procedures with which voters are currently familiar. We believe that this holds considerable potential for the extension of democratic participation and control

Technology, privacy and identity: a Hong Kong perspective

This article explores the concepts of privacy and identity in Hong Kong in relation to the law relating to data protection. It first considers the notions of privacy and identity in the light of Hong Kong's socioeconomic situation and recent postcolonial heritage. It then highlights the importance of identity management and considers the distinctions and overlaps between identity management and privacy protection. With this conceptual framework in mind, the article then considers the various laws in Hong Kong pertaining to data protection, with a focus on the aspects relating to identity management. It observes that while there is some legal protection in respect of the data relating to an individual's identity, there are other priorities which may take precedence in determining the extent of identity management under the legal system in Hong Kong. Finally, recommendations are made as to how to improve identity management within the context of data protection in Hong Kong

Reliability, availability and security of wireless networks in the community

Wireless networking increases the flexibility in the home, work place and community to connect to the Internet without being tied to a single location. Wireless networking has rapidly increased in popularity over recent years. There has also been a change in the use of the internet by users. Home users have embraced wireless technology and businesses see it as having a great impact on their operational efficiency. Both home users and industry are sending increasingly sensitive information through these wireless networks as online delivery of banking, commercial and governmental services becomes more widespread. However undeniable the benefits of wireless networking are, there are additional risks that do not exist in wired networks. It is imperative that adequate assessment and management of risk is undertaken by businesses and home users. This paper reviews wireless network protocols, investigates issues of reliability, availability and security when using wireless networks. The paper, by use of a case study, illustrates the issues and importance of implementing secured wireless networks, and shows the significance of the issue. The paper presents a discussion of the case study and a set of recommendations to mitigate the threat