Re: ID cards - What wasn't mentioned about the results of the consultation exercise

[Peter Tomlinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]

Dave Howe wrote:

> Owen Lewis wrote:
>
> > -    In some respects, the HO have seemed determined to shoot 
> > themselves in the foot over this issue. Accordingly, I'm not
> > surprised that the outcome of the public consultation exercise is
> > somewhat confused.
>
> Well, the latest "revelation" - that the ID card will be separate
> from the biometric passport and decoupled (so it may not use the same
>  technology) is interesting too. If the new id card isn't going to be
> part of a biometric passport, there goes the "we need to introduce
> this because the americans insist on a biometric passport" argument
> for introducing it, which was the only one he really had.
There's a technical specification problem here with the chip: the
passport indeed has to follow the (still emerging) ICAO/USA passport
spec, which requires a contactless interface; the ID card technical spec
is not yet available but it will probably use a contact interface as the
primary interface and may not adopt other technical detail from the
ICAO/USA work. There may yet be some joint European work on an ID card 
spec within the timescale of the UK project (I heard today that the EC 
has recently issued a policy paper, but don't yet have the link to it).

Peter