Dove Project

Just because it's digital doesn't mean it's safe - Telegraph: "The real reason it is being done, of course, is for the great ID card project. A few weeks ago, it was announced that the General Register Office is to be transferred to the Identity and Passport Agency from April so that the database can be used to double-check identity documents submitted with passport applications. Dead or alive, we are all becoming part of a giant interconnecting database. . . .

The service is operated by the Office for National Statistics, which has a statutory obligation to maintain a public accessible index to births, marriages and deaths. The ONS maintains this duty has been fulfilled by providing existing online images and the microfiche indexes. When the Dove project began, it was due to be completed by next year, but this has now been put back by at least 12 months. The earliest it will be ready is mid-2009.

The contract for the project was won by Siemens Business Services, which outsourced the work to India, where the records are being inputted. Information on all of us that would be valuable to ID thieves is being sent abroad, which is a bit alarming when you consider the loss of the child benefit records held on just two CDs."