Privacy Digest

BBC NEWS | Programmes | File on 4 | ID cards will give 'false' data: The government's ID card system will give thousands of "false matches" when more than six million people are registered on its database, an academic has claimed.

Biometric data holding a person's unique physiological characteristics will be stored on a microchip in the cards.

But Professor John Daugman, said using fingerprints as a key biometric measure will cause major problems.

The Identity and Passport Service has denied Professor Daugman's claims.

Professor Daugman, of the University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory, said using a biometric scan of the iris - the coloured part of the eye controlling the amount of light that gets through to the retina - would give better accuracy than a fingerprint.

Plans to include the iris scan in the ID card biometric were put on hold by the government last December.

A small scale system using iris identification is operated by immigration officials at Heathrow and other UK airports.

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