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UK Can't Read Its Own ID Cards
An anonymous reader writes "Despite the introduction of ID cards last November, it has emerged that Britain has no readers that are able to read the cards' microchips, which contain the person's fingerprints and other biometric information. With cops and border guards unable to use the cards to check a person's identity, critics are calling the £4.7bn scheme 'farcical' and a 'waste of time.'"
It is offtopic. "Dad's Army" was at best tangentially related to the government.
What you want is "Yes, Minister". Down the corridor, third on the left.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Freedom of Information Act 2000 Only exceptions to this in government is the Official secrets act. which means the information comes out in 50 years. this is better than the US where 90% of it never comes out at all. The Act
Exceptions include information other that that covered by the Official Secrets Act.
There are also a whole lot of exemptions, such as data that is commercially sensitive, related to criminal investigations or where disclosure would contravene the Data Protection Act etc. When a request is refused the reason for the exemption must be given to the requester.
In practise the Act has meant a lot of information is now public where it wouldn't have been before.
Not just asylum seekers, anyone here on a settlement visa. My wife's got to have a card now, even though she's here fully legitimately and I'm a full-fledged British citizen andsubject of HRH Queen Elizabeth the Second. And students are next in line, which as a PhD researcher means yours truly. If you refuse? Well, you lose your visa or your student status as appropriate. They're targetting those that are least able to object in order to build up an "installed base".
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?