Even if your department has the newest tech system available, it won’t make a difference if only half of the upgrade actually works.

In a move to boost security nationwide, Britain’s first identification cards were released, complete with fingerprint and facial details. The biometric details on each ID card would essentially eliminate identity theft and other fraud.

Of course, it would have helped if the government also completed the electronic readers for the ID cards. A spokesperson for Britain’s Home Office admitted that no employers, police forces, colleges or hospitals have been given a machine that can read the ID cards — and that there are no future plans to issue them.

Instead, authorities will have to rely on visual checks of the cards, making them no more secure than typical photo identification. They can call a UK Border Agency hot line to verify whether or not a card is genuine, but the Home Office asserts this should only be done for a “minority of cases.”

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Tags: Biometric, ID cards, Identity theft, Scanner