(Telecompaper) The French government is planning to introduce a mandatory national ID programme based on facial recognition, Bloomberg reported. The system, called Alicem, will give people a secure digital identity and make the state more efficient, the government said. Alicem was meant to launch at Christmas but will now come out in in November, despite the many privacy, security and consent concerns it has raised. French data regulator Cnil is against the programme, saying it breaches European rules of consent. Privacy group Quadrature du Net is challenging the plan in court but the case, filed in July, will not see the the launch delayed. Regarding security, hackers were able to break into the system very quickly this past year, raising concerns about the state's security standards.