Comments on: Do we need identity cards, and soon?

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:42:52 +0000

Harry said: “What’s needed is a way for organisations to interact with us where we control our own data, releasing it to those we trust, and revoking it when relationships break down.”

If I remember correcly Estonia has a National ID card system which allows the individual to authorise access to their records and also allows the individual to check who has accessed their record. Plus it isn’t like the UK one which holds everything, I think it’s more related to government benefits and health records.

By: Harry

Harry — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:24:07 +0000

Totally agree.

Big databases will never solve that problem in any case — too often inaccurate — and TellUsOnce doesn’t really stack up when you consider that VRM would solve the problem comprehensively, and lots of others besides.

By: Geeklawyer

Geeklawyer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:12:48 +0000

Your penultimate paragraph is the key point. I went to a conference where I heard Minister Tom Watson speak; he wittered on with some (I’d bet apocryphal) tale about a pensioner who had to inform 40 government agencies & quango’s about his wife’s death. “Why! with a Grand Unified Database we could have done that for him and solve all his pain & torment”. I lacked the nerve to get up and shout “How about asking him if you could do that? How about letting him own his data?”