So Gordon Brown said this week that he was scrapping ID cards. Well he kind of hinted at that, but what he actually said, is that they're being delayed. When it's such a voter loser why don't they just scrap them and save the money, we could certainly do with any extra money at the moment.
Why are the government so keen on ID cards? They will tell you that it is to combat terrorism and crime. So how will it do that? They won't, the 9/11 terrorists had valid ID cards as did the Madrid bombers and the 7/7 London bombers had valid passports. They won't stop illegal immigration, only effective border controls do that and there is so much legal immigration from the enlarged EU, which is far more of a problem. Crimminals, how would ID cards stop them, and let's face it, most terrorists and crimminals have the ware with all and finances to obtain fake ID cards.
If the government know this then why are they pushing ahead with them regardless. The cost is rumoured to be about £20bn if the LSE have their figures correct. The real reason is to monitor and control the public, they want it to build up a digital database, the mass gathering of personal data on travel, bank details, mobile phone locations, health records, internet usage, criminal records however minor, fingerprints and digital pictures that can be data-mined and applied to different scenario – boarding a plane, behaviour on the Tube or taking part in a protest.
The nothing to hide, nothing to fear phrase is usually trotted out, but do you really want the government knowing your every move? Eventually it will be linked to all government departments and that will include the NHS (your GP records). They already sell our names and addresses via the DVLA to anyone who will pay £2.50, I'm sure they'll happiliy sell our details to insurance companies. For anyone who thinks it is still just an ID card like a driving licence, Google the National Identity Register. Oh and it will be voluntary, really, then why when you renew your passport will you automatically be registered on to the register which will take your biometric details from the passport.
This is all from the government that brought you micro chipped bins and fines people for over filling them or putting them out a day early. They already access your loyalty card information, both the NHS and the Inland Revenue use this information.
If you want to read a more in depth review of ID cards, the reason for them and what it means to the individual, then click on the link below. It contains an example of the sort of Big Brother I have been alluding to, where NY Governor Eliot Spitzer was making a nuisance of himself to the Bush administration by highlighting the banking prblem last year, so they "sorted" the problem.
"Less than 3 weeks later, by 6 March, Spitzer had been forced to resign due to a call-girl scandal, revealed by government surveillance of his bank account, using (or rather, abusing) anti-terrorism powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act".
Do you know any other country that abuses the powers of the RIPA act to spy on individuals?
http://arcticcompass.blogspot.com/2009/09/those-pesty-id-cards-everyone-will-have.html
