scared in the UK

[captain spanky]

Quote by me, somewhere else
The whole ID card thing has started up again (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7280495.stm) and it scares me that we're going to get forced into this... and if not us, then our kids. In fact, it will be aimed at students "to help them get bank accounts" etc... was it really difficult to get a bank account in the first place?

I think it's a knee-jerk reaction to the perceived threat of terrorism... and something that will make the world actually worse than it is. Having an ID card or biometric information on your passport is too much to put at risk. All the people saying that 'if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to worry about' are completely missing the point. The risk isn't one of getting caught for doing something minor, the risk is one of your identity being used against you. Can i just ask those people, do you implicitly trust the government? Even though they've lost data (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7197628.stm)... even though they've not acted on important information (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm)... even though they seem to just leave stuff at the side of a road (http://************.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040720/ai_n12800360)... even though they have no idea where their data cds are going (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7269965.stm)... and would you trust the innermost personal details of who you and your family are with these people? Can you trust the security of this information? Who do you think this information will be valuable to? And do you think that the total identity of a typical law abiding person will be useful to a criminal? Hell yes. Your identities will be under the most wanted.

And how will an id card/biometric info help stop terrorism? They knew exactly who the terrorists were who committed the recent atrocities... would it have helped if they were carrying a card that said 'i am me' on them? I don't think so. It may have meant they couldn't leave the country to blow up a plane... but hey they could be let to try other things like.. oh i don't know.. blow up a train or a bus or something.

but hey, maybe i'm over inflating things... what sort of info could that tiny thing hold anyway? .. well quite a lot actually. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4630045.stm) ... and note the 'other biometric info'..what could that be? DNA info? hmmm. Having a card can't be too bad can it? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3127696.stm) Surely it would help the police know who people are? Maybe not... the last time we tried it "they were thought to be hindering the work of the police, because so many people resented being asked to produce a card to prove their identity."

I'm scared. Are you?
Some more info here at No2ID. (http://www.no2id.net/)

I made the above post on another forum...
Do you lot have any thoughts on the ID/biometric card thing?

[John G]

Luckily nothing digital can be tampered with.

AMIRITE?

[captain spanky]

ahhaaahahaahhaahaaahaha :D

[morea]

the thought of it makes me uncomfortable, too.

My passport has some kind of electronic chip in it containing all my vital statistics, and I am not really at ease with THAT.

I read somewhere that you can disable the chip by smacking the cover of the passport with a hammer, but that it is a federal offense to do so, so I'm leaving mine alone.

[Ben Kessler]

Pet Shop Boys are against it (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/4763874.stm), so it's probably a bad thing.

[CkretAjint]

Man that blows... Pretty soon they will monitor what you ate and limit your food choices based on 'your card' :rolleyes:

"I'm sorry sir, you can't get the taco meal. You have some tacos 3 days ago." :(

[John G]

"I'm sorry sir, you can't get the taco meal. You have some tacos 3 days ago."
HEADS WILL ROLL

needed to post in caps

[artistsdad]

Never realized that people like George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Robert Heinlein were historians, did you?

We have become way too passive as citizens where our governments are concerned. We sit on our butts with our eyes glued to our TVs and our ears glued to our ipods, and let them take away our rights, establish tracking devices and protocol, indulge in camera surveillance (both covert and overt), all in the name of security. Anarchy begins to sound better all the time.

It is WAY scary to think that our kids will be living in that kind of world. I have no idea how to help stop the slide to where we seem to be headed. Where are the young radicals and revolutionaries of this generation? Have all the old hippies gone establishment? What has happened American idealism? Where is the next Churchill coming from in England? You see the spark in the developing countries--that burning desire to "do something" for their country. What has happened the established nations? Geeez--even the young people in France are trying to make a difference in their country.

I think the black market will become much more prevalent, as will more and more people working under the table. Here in the States, the number of people working for cash is steadily increasing, and they are helping each other out in pretty much every way imaginable. There is a definate underground economy and lifestyle that is being forged by people who aren't willing to "go gently into that good night" of government control. Personally, I think it is the only way to save this country. I assume the same underground is developing, or will develop, in other countries as governments become more invasive in their citizens' everyday lives.

May God (of your particular persuasion) save the common man!

[Red Kittie Kat]

just remember it all started with telling smokers they couldn't smoke in a bar


;)

[budafist]

Not into ID and microchipping. I have a microchip in my passport.

Though I enjoy going to bars now and not having to wash the stinky smoke out of my hair when I get home.

[urstwile]

Have all the old hippies gone establishment?
The majority of them went establishment a long time ago, in the Reagan era, I believe. Jerry Rubin was a perfect example of that.