Anyone know more about this BT "uk identity verification" scheme?

[Ian Miller]

At 13:35 +0000 17/3/03, Quentin Campbell wrote:
>A UK citizen recently returned from living and working in Canada was
>turned down by Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HSBC before he was finally able
>to open an account with Abbey National. It took him 3 months of trying
>before he could get an account.
>
What is particularly dangerous about this, is that it effectively requires
the honest citizen, not merely to jump through hoops, but to actually
circumvent the regulations.  Once circumvention by honest citizens becomes
common, there will spring up self-help groups and similar to aid
circumvention.  Side-stepping the regulations will become easier and carry
no automatic implications of wrong-doing.  The bad-guys will no longer
stand out from the crowd of infuriated citizens.

Put simply over Draconian regulation is counter-productive, as it
legitimises by-passing the regulation.  I think there is little doubt that
the 'money laundering' regulations are already well into this hole.
Nevertheless I confidently predict that the Home Office will continue to
dig.

Ian

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