If you value your freedom, reject this sinister ID card

[OneBlueSky]

Guardian article concerning the British ID card . . . but equally applicable here in light of recently passed legislation . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1375584,00.html

(snip)

To be anonymous, to go privately, to move residence without telling the authorities is a fundamental liberty which is about to be taken from us. People may not choose to exercise this entitlement to privacy, or see the point of it, but once it's gone and a vast database is built, eventually to be accessed by every tentacle of the government machine, we will never be able to claw it back. We are about to surrender a right which is precious, rare even in western democracies, and profoundly emblematic of our culture and civilisation. And what for? The government advances arguments of necessity, raising the threats of terrorism, organised crime, benefit fraud and illegal immigration.

(snip)

If we are to accept this sinister legislation, which will cost upwards of £3bn, we should know that it will be a matter of time before a government insists that the unique key to every adult's genetic profile be included on the card. With that would come a data bank of every individual's DNA to be accessed by God knows whom, with God knows what terrifying purpose. Later versions of the ID card might carry a chip called a radio frequency identification (RFID), which can be read from a distance. Thus anyone carrying a card who passes a sensor will give away their position.

This is not science fiction. RFID technology is being tested for US passports, and the British police are covertly monitoring an individual's movements with analogous technology on motorways.

We must not imagine that respect for individual liberty is innate to the British establishment. With this bill, the government is attempting to change for ever the relationship between the individual and the state in the state's favour. Those who treasure liberty must not let it pass.

- more . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1375584,00.html

[Kellanved]

1. actually I think it's the exact opposite

The RFID thing aside - it'll come and it'll come everywhere.

But plain national ID cards mean decentrally stored data - in your own pocket. Authorities in countries without ID cards tend to have huge cross linked databases, far more dangerous to the citizen's rights, than a card in the pocket.
Not to mention the protection from identity theft.

I guess it is one of the things where the British mindset differs from the continental one. Well, the British never learned the Nazi lesson and thus aren't that afraid of centrally stored data.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. The purpose of this legislation is the central database

it will log every time your information is accessed. That could include each visit to your doctor, or every time you claim a government benefit. The police will be allowed access to all the data (ie fingerprints, your movements) for detecting 'serious crime', and "protecting Britain's economic wellbeing".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4053453.stm

[sweetheart]

3. Ok then what?

I was recently retaining legal counsel in Edinburgh for business
reasons, and i was asked to show my passport, a bill, a drivers
license, and a letter from the home office proving my right to
residency.

It strikes me an ID card is simpler and less invasive.

I would support such a card, if it stops them from demanding all this
other stuff. As well, if we're at all honest, the digital world is
upon us, and the future will only be more and more digital with more
and more of our professional lives embedded in the internet and
telephony technological networks. The only authentic guarnantor of
unique identity is the government, and there comes a point, where i'd
rather the government was chartered to provide unique digitial certificates,
than some private company like TRW in America.

By the same token, i expect, that by the government authenticating my
identity, that private corporations will lose their franchise to do
the same, and i'm more trusting of the UK government than i am of
any corporation.

As someone pointed out in a related discussion on the UK forum here
on DU, related to this subject, identity cards, forego the presumption
of innocense... and that indeed is a sad state of affairs. One
would hope, that as the UK identity card need only be produced days
after it is demanded, or to attain some public services, that such
a thing is forward looking and not the regressive tool of repression
that y'all are making it out to be.

Keep in mind, that the average UK citizen is video-taped over 20
times a day on various cameras across the country, and that if the UK
really wanted to create a repressive surveillance state, it hardly
needs identity cards to do it. So the quesiton i either the government
is, or is not forming a surveillance police state. If it is the
former, than it is incumbent upon every good person to vote liberal
democrat in the next general election and send the labour-tory party
a message.

[neweurope]

4. Controlling is NEVER being done in the best interest of the controlled.

Fingerprints, biometric data etc - we will have this all over Europe. Because the US demanded it (not that our own governments didn't give in willingly - every government wants as much control as it can possibly get).

Controlling is NEVER in the best interest of the controlled. It is to be ALWAYS rejected.