2.14.2006

 

Embrace ID cards you fools!

The paranoid people that are saying this is some sort of big brother operation being carried out by the Government make me want to scream in rage much like this: yeearruuurghhhhh! The Government know what they need anyway in most cases. ID cards just make it easier to deal with the more shadier individuals with plenty to hide; and the growing problems with identity fraud.

It is a convenient card. If you are over 18 but look younger and constantly get asked for ID when buying alcoholic drinks, then no need to be carrying around your comparatively bulkly passport or driving licence. Its usefulness will soon become apparent.

Many other countries use them in Europe and stand by them. They have proven essential in Hong Kong against illegal immigrants from the mainland. And with Britain standing out more so than many countries with ID cards as a target for terrorism, I think every little bit helps.

Comments:
"The Government know what they need anyway in most cases. "

If they already know everything, then why waste billions of poiunds of our money on Yet Another Database system ?

"ID cards just make it easier to deal with the more shadier individuals with plenty to hide;"

How ? The proposed scheme is explicitly not one where you will have to carry your ID Card at all times, so , from a street crime or anti-terrorism point of view, they will be useless.

"and the growing problems with identity fraud."

The only part of so called "identity fraud" (there is no single crime , and no actual crime statstics collected by the police or the British Crime Survey) which seems to be growing is "customer not present" credit card fraud i.e. over a phone or the internet. There is no way that the proposed ID card help with this.

The Government's recent claim that "identity fraud" somehow costs the UK economy £1.7 billion a year, is simply wrong, and includes only about £200 million of things which could possibly be reduced with an ID card, if it worked perfectly. Unfortunately it is going to cost at least £600 million a year to run the ID Card scheme, only for the Home Office, and not including any costs for any of the rest of the Government departments or the private sector.

"It is a convenient card. If you are over 18 but look younger and constantly get asked for ID when buying alcoholic drinks, then no need to be carrying around your comparatively bulkly passport or driving licence."

Your driving licence is no bulkier than the proposed ID Card. What about the rest of your life, when there will be no chance of you ever being thought of as under 18 ?

"Its usefulness will soon become apparent."

An ID Card can only become useful if it replaces something else, and is not in addition to the old systems as well. Otherwise all you get is extra cost, complexity and longer queues. The only system which the proposed ID card will replace to any extent is the Passport.

"Many other countries use them in Europe and stand by them."

None of them have a massive centralised, compulsory biometric (fingerprint and iris scan) database, which is what is being proposed.

" They have proven essential in Hong Kong against illegal immigrants from the mainland.

In a communist police state, or in a colonial one yes, where there is compuulsion to carry your ID papers all the time.

Under the proposed UK scheme, no foreigners will need to register, unless they have been in the country for more than 3 months, so it cannot stop illegal immigrants e.g. overstaying students, or foreign based terrorists.

"And with Britain standing out more so than many countries with ID cards as a target for terrorism, I think every little bit helps."


The massive centralised database National Identity Register will be a huge terrorist and foreign intelligence agency and organised criminal target.

There is no way that it can be made really secure, and yet still grant access to 265 Government Departments and 44, 000 private sector organisations as envisaged by the Government.

There are possible, useful ID Card schemes, such as the German one, which is a simpl, cheap (about £5) photo-ID, printed with alll the anti-counterfeiting techniques used in banknotes. Your name and address details are only registered at the State level (equivalent to the devolved Governments in the UK), for local services, voting etc, and , but, by constitutional law, the central Government is forbidden from using the ID Card number
as a cross reference on any centralised Big Brother databases. The number itself changes every 5 years or so.

This would be a much more acceptable ID Card scheme, but it is absolitely not what the NuLabour Government is trying to inflict on us all.
 
You're taking the piss right?

The government knows what it needs????

ID cards are completely useless in the fight against crime and terrorism. If the Government was not such a bunch of big girls blouses in the first place, they would have doubled the number of prisons and locked up most of the trouble makers under existing laws.

An id card is nothing more than a Citizen Licence, that says you belong to the government.
 
Watching Them, watching Us, thank you for your detailed analysis of every sentence I freakin wrote :) However, your comments are greatly appreciated and show my ignorance in places, especially identity fraud. I agree with a lot you say and ID cards are rendered rather useless if it is not compulsory to carry them around (though the lack of an ID card will add to the suspicion of already suspicious individuals). Hopefully most will carry them around without bother and to reduce potential hassle.
This Government is notoriously cautious. Maybe this is just them laying down the foundations, eventually leading to an 'upgrade' of sorts (after further possible terror attacks increase public fear) where it is compulsory to carry them for all, including shorter stay foreigners.
Failure to show resulting in a trip down the station in some cases. Being a pessimist, I don't see things in this country getting any better. People will have to give up little freedoms like the freedom not to carry an ID card around.
I have to admit the idea of a massive centralised database does not scare me. All good citizens have little to fear from that. The Government can have my photo, fingerprint or DNA fingerprint on file for all I care. If a high percentage success rate system can exist where an instant profile and passport-style photo of an individual can be obtained from DNA found at a crime scene then this is surely something to work towards. Feel free to enlighten me here... why is it such a bad thing, this centralised database?
The German model is interesting, but surely central can access ID in extreme cases. This model sounds weak to me.
 
EU serf, I don't think ID cards will end up being useless but, yeah more prisons! Prison islands and prison ships at sea good too. Eventually we can piss them all off into space in great big prison space stations. This planet is too small for assholes. I see at least 20 assholes a day.
 
Well it seems to me at least there's one person who will be happy when we're all lining up to be implanted with microchips then...
 
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