The BCS raises some key concerns surrounding the ID Card scheme and the high levels of risk attached to the implementation of a large and centralised government IT system as currently outlined in the bill. Furthermore, the Society exercises its primary concern that there appears to be no firm and fixed statement of what the system is meant to achieve, what success or failure criteria and scope limitations have been imposed. The concerns of the BCS were subsequently raised in the House of Commons debate on ID Cards on 28 June when Shadow Home Secretary David Davies MP posed the question of whether the technology exists to make the system work. Drawing upon the Society’s key concern of the levels of risk associated with implementation of the proposed scheme, Mr Davies exemplified the expertise of the BCS on the subject by claiming that the Society “knows rather better than others what it is talking about.”
The BCS’ director of external relations, Dr Mike Rodd, highlighted the Society’s apprehensions on the proposal, “Our primary concerns focus on the lack of objectives the ID project has. There does not appear to be any fixed statement on what the system is meant to achieve, what success or failure criteria are imposed and which scope limitations have been imposed.
“The fact that the BCS’ significant input into the proposal has been recognised in the LSE report and has subsequently been acknowledged in the House of Commons goes further to exemplify our commitment to achieving a successful outcome to the proposal.”
Quelle: Publictechnology, 08.07.2005
