UK government planning a database of every phone call and email by the public -- in the name of fighting terror....

[SteveLaura 0]

Good question. I see it like this: I need my driving license to drive. If I leave my house and go for a walk, I don't need it. With a national ID card to be effective, I'm assuming there would have to be a requirement to carry it with you at all times. Therefore, a police officer could indeed stop me and demand that I prove who I am. I against that.

Cops are allowed, today, to stop you and ask you to identify yourself. Whether you are driving or not.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-5554.ZS.html

What if you have no ID on you? I didn't have a driving license (UK or US) when I first came here, and didn't carry my passport with me. I have no problem telling a cop my name. I just don't think I should be required by law to prove it every time I leave my house.

You already do as a permanent resident of the US - supposedly to carry your Green card on you at times. Theoretically I break the law every time I go swimming.

Actually, you're right - I do carry my green card with me. I intend to a good boy 'til I get the citizenship. Once that happens, tho, I will fight against a national ID system.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Good question. I see it like this: I need my driving license to drive. If I leave my house and go for a walk, I don't need it. With a national ID card to be effective, I'm assuming there would have to be a requirement to carry it with you at all times. Therefore, a police officer could indeed stop me and demand that I prove who I am. I against that.

Cops are allowed, today, to stop you and ask you to identify yourself. Whether you are driving or not.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-5554.ZS.html

What if you have no ID on you? I didn't have a driving license (UK or US) when I first came here, and didn't carry my passport with me. I have no problem telling a cop my name. I just don't think I should be required by law to prove it every time I leave my house.

You already do as a permanent resident of the US - supposedly to carry your Green card on you at times. Theoretically I break the law every time I go swimming.

Actually, you're right - I do carry my green card with me. I intend to a good boy 'til I get the citizenship. Once that happens, tho, I will fight against a national ID system.

I carry mine in my wallet - but there are obvious situations where doing so isn't practical.

"ver are your papers" isn't my bag

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Good question. I see it like this: I need my driving license to drive. If I leave my house and go for a walk, I don't need it. With a national ID card to be effective, I'm assuming there would have to be a requirement to carry it with you at all times. Therefore, a police officer could indeed stop me and demand that I prove who I am. I against that.

Cops are allowed, today, to stop you and ask you to identify yourself. Whether you are driving or not.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-5554.ZS.html

What if you have no ID on you? I didn't have a driving license (UK or US) when I first came here, and didn't carry my passport with me. I have no problem telling a cop my name. I just don't think I should be required by law to prove it every time I leave my house.

You already do as a permanent resident of the US - supposedly to carry your Green card on you at times. Theoretically I break the law every time I go swimming.

Actually, you're right - I do carry my green card with me. I intend to a good boy 'til I get the citizenship. Once that happens, tho, I will fight against a national ID system.

I carry mine in my wallet - but there are obvious situations where doing so isn't practical.

"ver are your papers" isn't my bag

N6, if you ever go to the Newark DO to get an I-551 stamp, they will take your green card. FYI.

[SteveLaura 0]

"ver are your papers" isn't my bag

Indeed. Although I'll have a bash at Gordon Jackson if you reckon you can pull off Dickie Attenborough.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Good question. I see it like this: I need my driving license to drive. If I leave my house and go for a walk, I don't need it. With a national ID card to be effective, I'm assuming there would have to be a requirement to carry it with you at all times. Therefore, a police officer could indeed stop me and demand that I prove who I am. I against that.

Cops are allowed, today, to stop you and ask you to identify yourself. Whether you are driving or not.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-5554.ZS.html

What if you have no ID on you? I didn't have a driving license (UK or US) when I first came here, and didn't carry my passport with me. I have no problem telling a cop my name. I just don't think I should be required by law to prove it every time I leave my house.

You already do as a permanent resident of the US - supposedly to carry your Green card on you at times. Theoretically I break the law every time I go swimming.

Actually, you're right - I do carry my green card with me. I intend to a good boy 'til I get the citizenship. Once that happens, tho, I will fight against a national ID system.

I carry mine in my wallet - but there are obvious situations where doing so isn't practical.

"ver are your papers" isn't my bag

N6, if you ever go to the Newark DO to get an I-551 stamp, they will take your green card. FYI.

No - I've not been down there since I got my 10 year card in 2006.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Oh you got your 10 year. Good deal. We've been waiting since last October.

[Niels Bohr 72]

There will be an exodus into the US from the UK. I imagine one day that every human being on Earth will be living on US soil.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Oh you got your 10 year. Good deal. We've been waiting since last October.

I think mine took less than a year - it was actually 2007 now that I think about it. Filed around January time and got the card by July.

[mawilson 2,133]

If there was a national ID, why assume cops will stop you for no reason and ask you to produce ID? We have ID today, at a state level (drivers licenses) and cops do not do that. You are assuming if a national ID exists they will abuse it, and yet you don't assume the same thing with respect to CCTV... why not assume they will abuse that as well?

Cops do not do that here, because we do NOT have a National ID.

Drivers licenses do not count - there's no requirement that everybody should get one.

[mawilson 2,133]

Cops are allowed, today, to stop you and ask you to identify yourself. Whether you are driving or not.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-5554.ZS.html

Not, they are not allowed to do that. I am well familiar with the Hiibel case,

but they still need probable cause.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

They already have seven of those in Hawaii. They look like giant ping-pong balls.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Here's an article: Privacy could be a thing of the past

And if you get a chance I remember this Peter Jennings documentary I think it was on Nightline called "Privacy Now".

I tried looking for it online but the storm is interfering with the internet now.

Edited May 20, 2008 by Olivia*

[Peikko 1,575]

Ah, the joys they dream up. I think this might be an 'all mouth, no trousers' proposal I mean, how exactly are they proposing to store this vast gas bagdom of ####### communications? That would be some crazy huge data base and managing 'security' too? Wow, what a crazy plan. Damn terrorists!

[mawilson 2,133]

Ah, the joys they dream up. I think this might be an 'all mouth, no trousers' proposal I mean, how exactly are they proposing to store this vast gas bagdom of ####### communications? That would be some crazy huge data base and managing 'security' too? Wow, what a crazy plan. Damn terrorists!

Err....easily?

These days you can get a Terabyte disk for less than $200.

Know how big a Terabyte is? 1,000,000,000,000 bytes (and no, it's not a power of 2 - disk manufacturers use the ISO definition, wherein a "gigabyte" is one billion bytes, not 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes.)

How many emails is that? Probably more than you can write in a lifetime.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Oh. I was envisioning emails stored in those earth-friendly bags we take to the grocery store.