UK national ID card unveiled

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

What will happen if they start issuing ID cards to some people is that Banks/airports etc. will start giving preference to those who do carry it.

Imagine if you were in a massive queue at the airport and there was a very speedy queue signposted "ID card carriers only" with the lucky carriers whizzing through?

Also if it meant entry to clubs etc. was hassle free I would bet that quite soon having one would become quite desirable.

I am personally dead against them because we cannot always rely on the benevolence of the state (its the same for CCTV and other surveillance). If, at some point down the line, we had a hardline government, following some sort of terrorist outrage or somesuch, then these tools could be turned against the population and that is the real issue.

I voted "Yes" because of inevitability rather than any support for them.

 

[little al]

or as an upgraded replacement of the NI card we are all automatically issued at 16. thats the funny thing, there is an effective ID card in place, we just dont use it as such. stick photo on it, job done. but the "ID Card Scheme" was never about the actual ID card, it was about the massive database to sit behind it and the distribution of readers to scan your card at any given moment. The government saw what the corporate world does with loyalty cards, realised its jolly usfull and wanted something similar with extra bonus features for police, council, DSS, [insert every other govenrment organisation] to use too.

Very good post, spot on.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I dont want ID cards on the basis that you will be charged for them. No problem if they are issued free and replaced for free every 5/10 years , these would be handy instead of carrying around other bits and pieces to prove who you are when applying for things.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

It would be REALLY convenient to have a single ID card that could do away with the shambolic system we now have that requires us to produce gas bills when you want to buy a mobile phone.

The other benefit would be that we could do away with passport controls at frontiers - just like most other European countries have done.

As for fears about "invasion of privacy by the state", who believes that doesn't happen already?

 

[brightonbluenose]

It would be REALLY convenient to have a single ID card that could do away with the shambolic system we now have that requires us to produce gas bills when you want to buy a mobile phone.

The other benefit would be that we could do away with passport controls at frontiers - just like most other European countries have done.

As for fears about "invasion of privacy by the state", who believes that doesn't happen already?

An ID card that lasts 10 years or so is, I guess, unlikely to have an address on it for the same reasons that a passport doesnt, therefore negating your gas bill argument.

Having ID cards wouldnt neccessarily lead to the abolition of passport controls for us Brits - we'd still have to produce the ID card therefore same difference as a passport surely?!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

It would be REALLY convenient to have a single ID card that could do away with the shambolic system we now have that requires us to produce gas bills when you want to buy a mobile phone.

The other benefit would be that we could do away with passport controls at frontiers - just like most other European countries have done.

As for fears about "invasion of privacy by the state", who believes that doesn't happen already?

Strangely, when I need to prove who I am like when conducting business with a solicitor for example, I go to my important documents box and take what I need. Hardly difficult - no need for an ID card to do the same job. The ID card will contain losts of data that has no need to be on it and far too many organisations will have access to this data. Having worked for government departments ( and still doing so ) I can assure you very few understand about data security ( many don't really give two hoots about it ! ).

Invasion of privacy by the state may well already happen but that doesn't mean we should help it grow.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

An ID card that lasts 10 years or so is, I guess, unlikely to have an address on it for the same reasons that a passport doesnt, therefore negating your gas bill argument.

Having ID cards wouldnt neccessarily lead to the abolition of passport controls for us Brits - we'd still have to produce the ID card therefore same difference as a passport surely?!

Not at all. If everyone had to have an ID card, you wouldn't have to produce it as you cross a frontier. If everyone needed to produce an ID card for routine transactions (like buying a tax disc for your car, or claiming a state benefit), the folk without one would very soon identify themselves as "illegals" and could be dealt with. Under the present system, "illegals" live quite anonymously in the community and are never found by the authorities.

 

[Stoo82]

If you can fake a passport you will be able to fake a ID card.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

If you want to buy a ticket for a Serie A football match in Italy, you have to produce an Italian ID card (or foreign passport) at the point of purchase.

No ID, no football.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Not at all. If everyone had to have an ID card, you wouldn't have to produce it as you cross a frontier. If everyone needed to produce an ID card for routine transactions (like buying a tax disc for your car, or claiming a state benefit), the folk without one would very soon identify themselves as "illegals" and could be dealt with. Under the present system, "illegals" live quite anonymously in the community and are never found by the authorities.

Or the illegals would continue to work illegally thus not needing to try to claim state benefits and would not tax their cars.

 

[Stoo82]

If you want to buy a ticket for a Serie A football match in Italy, you have to produce an Italian ID card (or foreign passport) at the point of purchase.

No ID, no football.

and this is a reason to have it introduced into the uk?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Or the illegals would continue to work illegally thus not needing to try to claim state benefits and would not tax their cars.

Untaxed cars are now incredibly easy to detect.

 

[Curious Orange]

If everyone needed to produce an ID card for routine transactions (like buying a tax disc for your car...

You don't need to produce any ID to get a tax disc these days - all done online in a very neat cross-referencing of databases.

 

[brightonbluenose]

If you want to buy a ticket for a Serie A football match in Italy, you have to produce an Italian ID card (or foreign passport) at the point of purchase.

No ID, no football.

So when does this become an erosion of our civil liberties?

Why should someone have to prove who they are to go to a football match - that example is clearly the thin edge of the wedge!


OK, I appreciate the hooligan problem over there is a serious one but nonetheless the basic tenet of OUR criminal justice system is that you are innocent until proven guilty - this seems to me to reverse that.

Whats next - an ID card required to go to the cinema or to political meetings or a non-conformist theatre production etc etc.

We are the most monitored population in the world through CCTV etc and any further attempt to monitor and control us, essentially depriving us of basic freedoms,should be resisted.