UK Gov't To Require ID Cards For Some Foreign Residents

craigavonite, writing "It's looking like the UK is in for biometric ID cards within the next few years, despite widespread protest from groups such as 'NO2ID,'" excerpts from an article at the BBC describing a UK identify card to be issued starting later this year: "The biometric card will be issued from November, initially to non-EU students and marriage visa holders. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would allow people to 'easily and securely prove their identity.' Critics say the roll-out to some immigrants is a 'softening up' exercise for the introduction of identity cards for everyone."

Comments

Minutiae Points

[mad_robot]

Fingerprints are stored in the form of Minutiae Points rather than scanned imaged.

But that doesn't mean they can't be reconstructed.

Re:Big Fricken Whoop De Woo

[FailedTheTuringTest]

No. The term "British subject" is pretty much obsolete in law since 1983. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject)

(There are a few small exceptions for some classes of people who used to be British subjects and are entitled to keep that status if they hold no citizenship of any country, but no-one can now become a subject, so once the people who still fall in this category are gone, there will be no more subjects.)

Re:another perspective

[jambox]

The problem with it is that presumably the #ID constitutes a key that a bunch of other data key on. That means that if I, perhaps a criminal, know your #ID and if I can get access (which may well be possible), I can look up every relevant bit of data the government holds on you.

It's not the card that freaks people out, it's the massive, unified and probably insecure database that it implies!

Re:Where to begin.

[aeiah]

i agree with most things you wrote, although i cant let the comment about local newspapers stand. our local paper is packed front to back with murders, robberies and rape thankyouverymuch. none of that celeb shit here, just fear and violence ;) what irritates me most about this ID card move is that they're trialing it with a group of people who cannot oppose it. they're forcing the most vulnerable to go through with it. dont want an ID card? get out of the country. once the ID cards are established in the non-european immigrant sector it'll be easier to push it on the next group. quite how they're gonna get around EU regulations on freedom of movement will be interesting though.