Identity Cards ... good or bad idea?

by Simon 44 Replies latest social current

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  Simon

  One of the questions in the UK at the moment is whether we shoudl have identity cards or not.

  The government, who wants them, claims they will "help to prevent terrorism". How? Spain and the USA both have identity cards and they have had big terrorist attacks. It's never been explained exactly how they will stop terrorists.

  My personal opinion is that they are just another government play to control people, another form of tax (you can bet it will cost us to get them) and I have my doubts as to whether the government could run a large scale IT project of that magnitude (given it's track record) and whether the estimated £3bn won't end up many years late and at least £10bn over-budget. Woudl YOU trust the government to protect your personal info? Just look at the botched passport systems that we have all ended up paying for. It will just end up an inconvenience and expense for the honest man in the street and won't affect criminals or terrorists at all .. it will probably provide another market for them in fake IDs.

  Given too that the government has a history of dirty tricks - even trying to dig up dirt on rail-crash survivors in order to discredit and silence them and I think it is a MAJOR bad idea.

  And how would we get our ID cards? How would we identify ourselves? With the driving licenses / passports that they claim are not sufficient ID !!

  They should tighten up on dishing out birth certificates of dead babies and the like and face it that the open borders between us and Europe are great in principle but people need to chose between convenience and security.
• 

  Puternut

  Simon,

  Keep this card safely with your " Yes give me blood" card.

  Puternut
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  gitasatsangha

  It's just government attempting to control people. And most people will go along with it. If all else failes, government can say "IT's for the CHILDREN" and everyone will fall in lock-step.
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  caspian
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  logical

  Yes you are right, its all about control.

  They can track OAP's now. They are given smart card buspasses..... the implications on this are bad, as the government can keep track of people, where they go, how long for, its disgusting and wrong. Soon all bus passes will be like this. If it costs a bit extra to remain anonymous...then so be it.

  It will be the same with the new ID cards.

  Soon you wont be able to buy or sell without them..... (should set the religious nuts off on one)
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  Yerusalyim

  Not sure what the issues on this are in the UK. I'd not mind seeing a national ID card.
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  blondie

  I wonder what the reasoning is. I don't know how they could improve on DLs and passports.

  Blondie
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  caspian

  oops crap formatting above.

  A recurring feature of the discussion about identity cards is the increasingly perfunctory reference to 'civil liberties objections'. The prediction that any move will anger 'civil liberties groups' is rarely borne out by any sustained campaign in defence of civil liberties.
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  gitasatsangha

  I don't see the current tug of war between libertarian interest and authoritarian interests going on under the rug for much longer. For so long, in America at least, the main political argument has been Liberal Vs. Conservative, which are really just two consortiums of special interests with no underlying fabric binding their respective causes together. Libertarian Vs. Authoritarian, though it has shown up in minor issues in the Liberal-Conservative struggles, is much more serious a conflict, and perhaps because of the implications of this, few want to think of it. More and mroe people realize that Republicans and Democrats have little to choose between the two, and because of this I think we will see more Seattle and Waco type conflicts against the Authoritarian symbols of authority such as WTO and the Federal government. In time, if the political machine continues to be misused to keep libertarian interests out of the democratic process, the conflict could turn nasty.
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  caspian

  TRY TRY AGAIN,

  the recurring feature of the discussion about identity cards is the increasingly perfunctory reference to 'civil liberties objections'. The prediction that any move will anger 'civil liberties groups' is rarely borne out by any sustained campaign in defence of civil liberties.