Data fiasco firm at heart of £20bn ID card scheme

Data fiasco firm PA Consulting is at heart of £20bn ID card scheme Fresh questions have been raised over the Government's ID card project as it emerged that the firm at the centre of the criminal data fiasco is at the heart of the £20bn project. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was last night under pressure to explain why the Home Office, which had known about the loss since Monday, had not made it public for three days when a whistleblower intervened. PA Consulting, which lost a memory stick containing Home Office data on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales and 43,000 of the country's most serious offenders, has been paid more than £240m for Government contracts in recent years, figures show. This includes £100m by the Home Office for the ID scheme and other work and £35m to work on new biometric visas for the Foreign Office. (link via telegraph.co.uk) I would be very surprised if anyone still supports the ID card/database scheme after this latest fiasco. How can anyone believe our data will be safe and secure? Frequently Asked Questions on Identity Cards (link via NO2ID, a campaigning organisation.) We are a single-issue group focussed on the threat to liberty and privacy posed by the rapid growth of the database state, of which "ID cards" are the most visible part.