ID Cards: A lost Battle?

[caddyman]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But I really hoped that HM Government would listen to the results of its own consultation paper.

But no.

The Sunday Times tells us that Home Secretary, David Blunklett is to press ahead with the introduction of compulsory ID Cards in the UK for everyone over the age of 16.

The home secretary has rejected voluntary entitlement cards and instead will require all citizens to have identity cards. Each card will contain biometric data, such as an image of a person’s iris or fingerprint, so police and other authorities can confirm the holder’s identity.

This wonderfully intrusive document will, to add insult to injury, cost each and every one of us £40.

The government will hold information about the population on a central computer database - a move that will further alarm civil liberties groups.

In a letter to fellow cabinet ministers dated June 25, Blunkett says: I believe that the case for introducing a universal identity card in the UK is overwhelming. The consultation exercise showed strong public support for a card scheme and a preference for the term ‘identity card’ rather than ‘entitlement card’.

Odd thing to say really, given this report from the BBC, who hold a different opinion yet again, from Her Majesty's Government.

He adds: The argument that identity cards will inhibit our freedoms is wrong. We are strengthened in our liberty if our identity is protected from theft; if we are able to access the services we are entitled to; and if our community is better protected from terrorists and organised criminals.

Quite.

And how long will that last?

At this rate, I think I might have to start looking at the price of jack boots and black shirts.

Comments

remember Revelations?

[suitandtieguy.livejournal.com]

do the words "Mark Of The Beast" ring a bell?

This is utterly abhorrent!

[maleghast.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what has happened to the Labour Party or the concept of democracy in this country...

I have always held the most jaded of opinions as to the unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom; we are not citizens, we are subjects and we have no rights, only privileges,none of us should forget that. With this in mind, should I really be surprised that the digital age in all of its wonder has finally shown Her Majesty's Government its darker side and they've gone all gooey at the knees - "At last we will have another nail in the coffin of the slow but inexorable march towards true freedom," says Blair - a written constitution would have put paid to him and his cronies long ago - can anyone say 'Impeachment'?. There are several of you with whom I have discussed this before, and you are probably still shaking your heads. Fine, I'm a paranoid nutcase who won't listen to reason. Now that I've placated you... I know that there are inumerable complications to the concept of a formalised, written constitution of any State in law. Better all of those problems than the ultimate truth of being a subject - we Britons have no Rights and ID cards are just another way of reminding us. Of course it could be worse - I could have been born into a society such as the Italy of the late sixties and early seventies under the tyrrany of corrupt proto dictators and caught betwixt them, the devil, and the deep red sea of the Red Brigades. One too many tirades such as this - even on a website if they'd had them - and I would have awoken on a quiet Tuscan hillside with a submachinegun nestling in the small of my back. I am aware that I have many freedoms by dint of being British, but all of them may be taken from me on a whim - nowhere in Law are any of them protected. One more of them will be taken away from me if this sickening policy is adopted - my right to be other than I am, for whatever reason. Imagine if you will, we all get the accursed things and then the country happens to fall into the hands of Blair Squared - a more charismatic, more machiavellian more presidential man (or woman). My friends and I begin a concerted yet peaceful opposition to this Prime Minister. Who among us will attempt to say that the technology is beyond the present that ID cards could be more than just an identifier - a locator as well? Does the horror begin to sink in? They do not need to be that clever, however. My friends and I are arresteed at a political rally - our names and identities confirmed by dint of the cards. We are not charged and we are released, but the record of our arrest is passed on to the "Office of Homeland Security" (insert actual name of proposed copy of American organisation here). Under the new provisions of the law that are included in revisions to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (post 9/11/2001) and the new Criminal Justice Bill, our mobile phone records and EIME numbers are available to the security services - now, everywhere we go with our mobile phones we can be found. This is not Science Fiction - there is commercial software available now in the UK which will allow you to combine your own mobile phone and a laptop computer to give you the location of a mobile for which you know the number and which is turned on. I am uncertain as to the legality of the use of such software, but it exists. I could just about accept the existence of ID cards if the law provided each man and woman that carries one the inalienable right to refuse to surrender it until formally charged with a crime, but if our identities can be confirmed on suspicion there is a problem. We may live in a society at the moment where such worries may seem like paranoia, but the genie cannot be put back in the bottle - if the ID Card comes in, then future potentially less benevolent administrations have a tool of unprecedented power at their disposal.
(cont. next post...)

Re: This is utterly abhorrent!

[captainweasel.livejournal.com]

I believe the good gentleman is refering to http://www.verilocation.com/ and http://www.overviewmapping.com/
the web based mobile phone trackers...
and don't forget, in this 'possible world' that when you're arrested, even if not charged, they can add your DNA to the National DNA database

[maleghast.livejournal.com]

(cont. from previous post)

I suppose, in truth, I should trust in my other instincive response to these proposals to protect me from all of this invasion into my personal space and the very thing that makes me who I am - identity. This is because I cannot see any way in which I could accept the reality of a compulsory Identity Card System that extended to a National, Biometrically Verified, Identity Database. This concept is not only wrong it is ludicrous! I have several friends and acquaintances that work at some level for government, whether directly or indirectly, at Central or Local level - how on Earth anyone could believe that this government is capable of securely and safely managing a database of over 59 million people without the data therein becoming either unmanageable or put to misuse is beyond me! They cannot even successfully build information systems that communicate effectively between government departments within the relatively small confines of the capital. No two Local Government systems are the same around the country except through happy accident.... I do not relish the possiblity of my identity being 'safeguarded' against fraud by a government controlled system at all. If nothing else were to speak to the facts of how ill advised this course could be for this country, then simple lack of expertise or will (or both) should be the check that holds us from this draconian course.

Has the belief in a Social Contract binding us one to another in a climate of peace and law through selfish advantage been squashed so completely that we must surrender our trust in one another to pieces of plastic? What does this say about our society - do we truly fear one another so much? Fear is the root of this measure in terms of husbanding acceptance in the political arena - "If we all have ID cards, then terrorists will not kill us all" - but if a well financed terrorist can get a forged passport, then I give the system four weeks at a maximum before the more intelligent criminals and terrorists are spoofing it like mad to wander about our fair Isle unimpeded and helped along their merry way - "He must be alright Joe, he's got an ID card." "Right you are Sergent - on you go sir.'Ere Sarge! Isn't that a shotgun under his coat?..."

The answer to the terrorist threat in the short term is better intelligence coupled with public vigilance as opposed to fear. The long game will be won by the states willing to stand up and deal - not with terrorists - but with those from their cultures with influence - those who wish a different end for their sons and daughters than walking onto planes, trains and buses with C4 and their holy book of choice strapped to their upper bodies. ID cards will bring us a new problem to deal with, a new way to take money from we taxpayers and no real benefit - aside from making us easier to control, find and manipulate. I swear, I can think of no better reason to emigrate - I just don't think I'll have the money to do it or a job to go to, and besides Canada is still a Dominion of the British Commonwealth; who's to say they might not follow where Old Blighty leads? I've ranted enough - If there's a march I'll be on it... Bring your own scissors!

[agentinfinity.livejournal.com]

I suppose there is always a hope that people will just refuse to carry them, on mass.

I'm particularly glad I just read Brave new world - puts everything in an even better light ;)

[keresaspa.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what the situation is on mainland Blighty but a while ago here in Northern Ireland there was a media blitz calling for people to register for photographic ID in order to secure their vote for the up-coming assembly elections. Whilst these didn't have fingerprints or anything like that they did represent a convenient way for the govenment and the cops to keep tabs on everyone here. So all the sheep (admittedly, myself included) fell over themselves to surrender their details to faceless bureaucrats and in the meantime deadline after deadline has come and gone and the fabled assembly elections have never materialised. Handy enough for the NI civil service who now have databases of everyone's personal details.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

There is one crumb of comfort.

In today's Times there is a follow up article which suggests that the cabinet have gone cold on the idea for a number of reasons, not least of which is the cost...