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UK Pushing ID Cards

Posted by michael on from the mandatory-voluntary dept.

lga writes "David Blunkett will attempt to introduce "entitlement cards" after the next general election in the UK. This is despite an overwhelming response against the idea through stand.org.uk. Carrying the cards will not be compulsory, but registration for the national database will be. Not only that, but the cards will be paid for by a £25 price increase on passports and driving licences! More information can be had at The Register and The Guardian."

4 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder... by Mensa+Babe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...how long before someone will compromise the database. I have yet to see a security solution, developed in a closed environment, which is indeed secure. (GSM, anyone?) I wish more people had read Bruce Schneier's books. But what do I know? I don't have lobbiests in EU... *sigh*

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    Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
  2. I want to know by cassidyc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do we need yet another form of forgable identification. I have a passport and a drivers license, I can get credit cards with my phot on them, all of which go to identify me as a person. Does having an ID card stop criminals? I don`t think any of the european countries have had a sudden drop in crime because of it. Will it stop terrorism? No more than passports have I suppose. But then I'm just a pleb that that think that the government is there at out sufferance to serve our purposes, and I don`t think I asked them to start implimenting ID cards.

    But maybe thats just me.

    CJC

  3. Not the UK too? by GuyMannDude · · Score: 3, Insightful

    David Blunkett will attempt to introduce "entitlement cards" after the next general election in the UK. This is despite an overwhelming response against the idea through stand.org.uk.

    And not too long ago the UK went to war with Iraq despite the overwhelming response against the idea. I guess the US isn't the only "democracy" (or representative republic) that ignores the will of the people. I don't know whether to feel sorry for the British or feel relieved that we in the US will have company "at the bottom".

    GMD

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    watch this
  4. At least you're trying to be rational. by abulafia · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The problem with national ids is not that they might be convenient. The problem is that they are enabling technologies for what could be very, very evil.

    If you think about common interactions with government or private businesses, identity is almost never actually needed. When it is, various specific ways of determining who you are are perfectly valid, and have been used for hundreds of years. That a national ID would be easier is not a justification. Think about the root problem for a second.

    When considering this sort of thing, it is important to keep in mind the worst sorts of abuses that _could_ happen. When talking about national identity cards, it clearly is important to ask, "what if Nazi Germany could have done a SELECT WHERE against a central citizen-unit database?"

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