ID cards

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

You may have heard that legislation creating compulsory ID Cards passed

 

a crucial stage in the House of Commons. You may feel that ID cards

 

are not something to worry about, since we already have Photo ID for

 

our Passport and Driving License and an ID Card will be no different to

 

that. What you have not been told is the full scope of this proposed

 

ID Card, and what it will mean to you personally.

 

The proposed ID Card will be different from any card you now hold. It

 

will be connected to a database called the NIR, (National Identity

 

Register)., where all of your personal details will be stored. This

 

will include the unique number that will be issued to you, your

 

fingerprints, a scan of the back of your eye, and your photograph. Your

 

name, address and date of birth will also obviously be stored there.

 

There will be spaces on this database for your religion, residence

 

status, and many other private and personal facts about you. There is

 

unlimited space for every other details of your life on the NIR

 

database, which can be expanded by the Government with or without

 

further Acts of Parliament.

 

By itself, you might think that this register is harmless, but you

 

would be wrong to come to this conclusion. This new card will be used

 

to check your identity against your entry in the register in real time,

 

whenever you present it to 'prove who you are'.

 

Every place that sells alcohol or cigarettes, every post office, every

 

pharmacy, and every Bank will have an NIR Card Terminal, (very much

 

like the Chip and Pin Readers that are everywhere now) into which your

 

card can be 'swiped' to check your identity. Each time this happens, a

 

record is made at the NIR of the time and place that the Card was

 

presented. This means for example, that there will be a government

 

record of every time you withdraw more than ?99 at your branch of Nat

 

West, who now demand ID for these transactions. Every time you have to

 

prove that you are over 18, your card will be swiped, and a record made

 

at the NIR. Restaurants and off licenses will demand that your card is

 

swiped so that each receipt shows that they sold alcohol to someone

 

over 18, and that this was proved by the access to the NIR,

 

indemnifying them from prosecution.

 

Private businesses are going to be given access to the NIR Database. If

 

you want to apply for a job, you will have to present your card for

 

a swipe. If you want to apply for a London Underground Oyster Card,

 

or a supermarket loyalty card, or a driving license you will have to

 

present your ID Card for a swipe. The same goes for getting a

 

telephone line or a mobile phone or an internet account.

 

Oyster, DVLA, BT and Nectar (for example) all run very detailed

 

databases of their own. They will be allowed access to the NIR, just

 

as every other business will be. This means that each of these

 

entities will be able to store your unique number in their database,

 

and place all your travel, phone records, driving activities and

 

detailed shopping habits under your unique NIR number.

 

These databases, which can easily fit on a storage device the size of

 

your hand, will be sold to third parties either legally or illegally.

 

It will then be possible for a non governmental entity to create a

 

detailed dossier of all your activities. Certainly, the government

 

will have clandestine access to all of them, meaning that they will

 

have a complete record of all your movements, from how much and when

 

you withdraw from your bank account to what medications you are taking,

 

down to the level of what sort of bread you eat - all accessible via a

 

single unique number in a central database.

 

This is quite a significant leap from a simple ID Card that shows your

 

name and face.

 

Most people do not know that this is the true character and scope of

 

the proposed ID Card. Whenever the details of how it will work are

 

explained to them, they quickly change from being ambivalent towards

 

it.

 

The Government is going to compel you to enter your details into the

 

NIR and to carry this card. If you and your children want to obtain or

 

renew your passports, you will be forced to have your fingerprints

 

taken and your eyes scanned for the NIR, and an ID Card will be issued

 

to you whether you want one or not. If you refuse to be fingerprinted

 

and eye scanned, you will not be able to get a passport. Your ID Card

 

will, just like your passport, not be your property. The Home

 

Secretary will have the right to revoke or suspend your ID at any time,

 

meaning that you will not be able to withdraw money from your Bank

 

Account, for example, or do anything that requires you to present your

 

government issued ID Card.

 

The arguments that have been put forwarded in favour of ID Cards can be

 

easily disproved. ID Cards will not stop terrorists; every Spaniard

 

has a compulsory ID Card as did the Madrid Bombers. ID Cards will not

 

'eliminate benefit fraud', which in any case, is small compared to the

 

astronomical cost of this proposal, which will be measured in billions

 

according to the LSE. This scheme exists solely to exert total

 

surveillance and control over the ordinary free British Citizen, and it

 

will line the pockets of the companies that will create the computer

 

systems at the expense of your freedom, privacy and money.

 

If you did not know the full scope of the proposed ID Card Scheme

 

before and you are as unsettled as I am at what it really means to you,

 

to this country and its way of life, I urge you to email or photocopy

 

this and give it to your friends and colleagues. The Bill has

 

proceeded to this stage due to the lack of accurate and complete

 

information on this proposal being made public.

[Sportsman]

But it's all for your own good, and let's face it, if you can't trust this government, who can you trust?

[Clifftop]

im puzzled if you havent been told about it how do you know about it.

im asking because there is a similar push here for ID cards.and until i read your post wasnt really bothered about it but it has got me thinking now. governments already have big files on everybody but if what you say is true then it starts to get scary.

good post this,even if you dont entirely agree it should promote discussion about it which can only make people more aware.

Some times i think its apathy by the masses that allows governments

to do what they like anyway.

[Steve Walker]

It picks up on the most important point; the government doesn't really want ID cards, it wants the database they will facilitate.

[kleinboet]

Prepare yourselves for a load of junk mail and "cold" callers selling to you with the help of this database!!

[Andrew Boyd]

Makes you wonder if the Government has heard of the "Data protection Act" ?

[Ken L]

Makes you wonder if the Government has heard of the "Data protection Act" ?

 

Yes they have and as Phill's document doesn't quote specifics or sources, it just sounds like so much scaremongering BS to me.

 

Two things to consider:

1. If Big Brother were really out to watch everyone all the time, it would be relativly simple to introduce ID cards with RF ID tags built into them and build a network of recievers so that they could tell where everyone in the country is at any given point in time.

2. If you are a terrorist or a mass murderer, it is already perfectly possible for the security services to trace all of your credit card transactions, the location of your mobile phone (with a full history of where you were at any point in time that the thing was switched on), your social security records and (if they happen to know that you claimed Nectar points when you purchaced you chainsaw) full details of your supermarket purchaces.

 

The fact is that unless you are a bad person, they're not prepared to spend time and money worrying about you.

[Steve Walker]

The fact is that unless you are a bad person, they're not prepared to spend time and money worrying about you.

 

You have put your finger straight to the point. Surveillance is currently too expensive for "fishing" expeditions. With a single database holding records of the use of your ID card it will become very cheap indeed. Tie it into the extended fixed ANPR network being planned (which will record every journey your car has made, and will keep the data for two years) and suddenly it becomes very easy to keep tabs on people.

 

The state does not need this much power, and it is likely to be corrupting.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

Whats more steve is people assume technology is infallible. We know of numerous people banged up on the basis of dodgy DNA evidence to quote just one example. Add this to the way a persons presumption of innocence is quietly being eroded by the government and its not just the 'bad people' that should be worried.

 

I actually like technology for some forms of enforcement, for example the ANPR system is not a bad idea for catching those with no tax and insurance on their cars but I disagree with the idea of keeping the data for 2 years.

[Steve Walker]

I actually like technology for some forms of enforcement, for example the ANPR system is not a bad idea for catching those with no tax and insurance on their cars but I disagree with the idea of keeping the data for 2 years.

 

Same here. This isn't about catching tax and insurance cheats, though. It's way over-specified for that.

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/15/ve...ement_database/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/18/anpr_delayed/