Petition the PM to scrap ID cards

[mawilson 2,133]

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/IDcards/

[arwensun1965 0]

I like the idea of ID cards, I have worked in the pub business and its tough trying to figure out a person's age, also worked on the railway and believe me it was just as bad asking for id, what I would like to know is why are people so dead against it??

Janice

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Also, is it not true that a driving licence IS an ID-card?

[fozzie 41]

Also, is it not true that a driving licence IS an ID-card?

So is a passport. Why should I pay 100 pounds for an ID card that doesn't double up as a passport. If they could combine the two then great, but otherwise whats wrong with my internationally accepted form of ID!!!

Edited November 19, 2006 by Lauren and Dave

[Alex+R 0]

Someone explain the issue. What do Brits currently use?

[Widge 0]

Basically there is no compulsion in the UK to carry ANY ID.

To open a bank account you have to provide proof of who you are (driving licence/passport, proof of address)

If stopped by police there is no requirement to be carrying documents though they can get you to provide them at a police station within days

I am shocked the amount of personal info that is required to be carried and provided at every opportunity here and yet there are constant complaints of ID theft.

Having checks with address and tel no. on amazes me (in UK just have name no other personal info) and frequently as a cashier I am having to ask for Divers licence on top of that as well.

Also the number of times here you are asked for your social security number in the UK the NI number the equivalent is only ever required by your employer and bank not every high street store who cares to ask lol

[Alex+R 0]

And I thought we were weird for only requiring DLs instead of some sort of formal ID. I guess we're not that lax over here after all.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Is "New Labour" still trying to push this? I'd hoped they'd given it up after Blunkett got the chop.

God help us when Gordon Brown is in charge - a real left-wing socialist, as opposed to the centre-right Tony Blair. I think ID cards will be top of the bill when he takes office.

[mawilson 2,133]

Someone explain the issue. What do Brits currently use?

Nothing - it's our long-standing right not to have to carry any identification.

Is "New Labour" still trying to push this? I'd hoped they'd given it up after Blunkett got the chop.

God help us when Gordon Brown is in charge - a real left-wing socialist, as opposed to the centre-right Tony Blair. I think ID cards will be top of the bill when he takes office.

Hmm why would a leftie push for ID cards?

what I would like to know is why are people so dead against it??

I will explain tomorrow.

[Mags 112]

I'm actually not against it, so can't wait for the explanation...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Hmm why would a leftie push for ID cards?

Because he's authoritarian?

[arwensun1965 0]

I'm actually not against it, so can't wait for the explanation...

LMAO why are we waiting oh why are we waiting lol

[mawilson 2,133]

I'm actually not against it, so can't wait for the explanation...

1) Today, different aspects of a person's identity exist in many different databases,

which are not necessarily linked to each other. Your NI records are not linked

to your NHS records, and the DVLA knows nothing about your Council Tax payments.

The bank, the credit card company, your doctor all hold different pieces of information

about you. In general they know only what they need to know in order to provide

a service. This is a fundamental concept of data protection.

The introduction of a universal card threatens this "need to know" principle. It opens

up the prospect of all this information being combined and made available at the push

of a button. We will all have one universal identifier which will be entered on every

public and private database imaginable.

2) "The card" itself is less dangerous than the centralised database behind it. The ID

card scheme in the UK is being used as an excuse for a National Identity Register (NIR).

The NIR will store fifty categories of information about you, and can be changed or

added to without your consent.

Every time you use your card, details will be recorded in the National Identity Register

in the form of an "audit trail". That's a lot of information about your private life, even before

combining it with information on other databases that now conveniently use the same key:

Government will track ID card use

3) Function creep. Initially the ID card database will be used to register identity and

possibly employment status. This will change. Airlines will undoubtedly demand to see

your ID card before letting you board. One proposed use of the cards is for access to

medical services, so one of the first things to go on or be connected will be your entire

medical history, available at the touch of a button.

From an official Home Office document: "The legislation will allow the cards scheme

to be used by any service - public or private - to establish identity with the consent of

the card holder...".

The Government will undoubtedly rely on functionality creep to create a de facto

compulsion to carry.

4) "Papers, please." ID cards would provide a pretext for those in authority to

question individuals who stand out for reasons of personal appearance or demeanour.

In the future, the police may be given powers to stop people at random and ask them

to produce their ID cards. That this involves racial profiling is undeniable.

5) Lost identity, becoming an un-person. By making ordinary life dependent on the

reliability of a complex database system, the scheme makes small errors potentially

catastrophic. There's no hint from the government how it will deal with inevitably

large numbers of misidentifications and errors, or deliberate attacks on or corruption

of what would become a critical piece of national infrastructure. A failure in any part

of the system at a check might deny a person access to his or her rights or property

or to public services, with no immediate solution or redress -- "license to live" withdrawn.

I would like to summarise by quoting Trevor Mendham, a vocal opponent of the ID card

scheme:

Britain has a proud tradition as a free country. It is a country where the state exists to

serve the people. The state is subservient to the individual, not the other way round.

So long as I don't break the law I can go anywhere, say anything and do anything

without having to identify or explain myself to anyone. The State knows about me only

what is absolutely necessary for it to serve our interests. As far as is practical, the State

stays out of my life.

We are entitled to our privacy - it is a right not a privilege.

ID Cards and the NIR will change all that. British citizens will no longer have a

natural-born right to their country - instead we will exist by virtue of a state-issued licence.

We will all be scanned, numbered and indexed like so much cattle.

ID Cards and the NIR will change completely the nature of British society, will wipe out

centuries of hard won freedoms and will destroy our privacy. They are first and foremost

a social control mechanism supported by bureaucrats who want us all neatly filed

and by centralising, authoritarian governments.

Some people, once they have tasted power, become reluctant to give it up. They start

to think that they have some God-given right to rule over the rest of us. Politicians need

to be reminded that they are elected to serve us, to run the country not rule it. They

work for us.

ID Cards and the NIR will change completely the relationship between the citizen and

the State. They will make the State the master and the individual the servant.

ID Cards and the National Identity Register are wrong in principle and

incompatible with the traditional British freedoms and way of life.