WRITTEN ON July 12th, 2005 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Identity
Would ID cards help identify bodies in a disaster? We heard this back in November at the IPPR and it has now cropped up again. Well, maybe, if everyone put their triple biometrics on more expensive fireproof ID cards, and if people carried them at all times instead of leaving them safely in a drawer at home, and if the victims’ remains were accessible, which seems to be the main problem.
Far more sensible is this nice ICE idea from ambulanceman Bob Brotchie – put an “in case of emergency” number in your mobile phone. Cost: zero. It’s voluntary. Fringe benefit: people know who to ring when they find a lost mobile phone. (Shame if your name is Ice, of course).** Thanks to Jon and Richard at FIPR
4 Responses to “ID: another job for the mobile phone”
It obviously depends greatly on the type of “disaster.”
Many victims and survivors of the Asian Tsunami lost their ID cards: Hence, ID cards were useless for identification and their loss continues to cause problems to the survivors – many of whom also lost their supporting documents.
The “authorities” have been concerned that this gave some criminals the opportunity to create “new” identities.
Without ID cards, some genuine survivors were refused emergency relief aid.
In practice, dental records and sometimes DNA were the most reliable identifiers. However, DNA tests were very expensive and led to very long delays.
BBC Radio 4 Today programme had great difficulty understanding the elegant “ICE” idea.
In my case, while spending the last two days attending a conference about mobile technology (www.mobilitysummit.co.uk), my mobile has been carefully switched OFF. Switching it on would require the PIN. Once “ON” my “ICE” is currently away, helping in Sri Lanka. Some of us are just plain obstructive!
Apparently it’s an official and bone-fide urban legend: see http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_in_case_of_emergency.htm
If you’re carrying your ID card it’s in your wallet, right? With your credit cards. Which have your name on them, and are as likely to have survived the whatever still attached to you as an ID card would be.