ID cards may have commercial advantages for banks and other institutions requiring secure authentication (It is time for privacy debates to grow up, governmentinsider.computing.co.uk).

But those commercial organisations should own the project so that it delivers a proportionate and timely solution. The government is the last organisation that should be running it.

When I go to my bank's web site, I authenticate and do not need to identify myself in the overweening sense that this government sees identification. I see no reason why the national identity register should hold a record of every time I authenticate to my bank.

Stephen Thomas