National Identity Database Challenged following Loss of Computer Discs

12.00.00am GMT Wed 21st Nov 2007

Simon Wright, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Norwich South, writes to the Evening News:

"However people may feel about carrying an identity card, the missing computer discs containing 25 million personal details should make everyone stop and think about the sense of the proposed national ID computer database.

Labour Ministers may insist that the technology behind any national identity scheme would be infallible, but the missing computer discs show that humans are certainly not.

It's not just missing discs that put our private information at risk - Government laptops containing personal information valuable to fraudsters have also been stolen in past years. We also know that computer hackers have been successful in hacking into even the Pentagon's database.

The proposed identity database may hold up to 49 pieces of information on you, me, and everyone else living in the country. The prospect of this data falling into criminal hands is terrifying.

After these last few days, I wouldn't trust the Government to look after any more of my most personal details - would you?

Yours sincerely,

Simon Wright"