Why is a national ID card necessary at all?

There does not seem to have been many people unable to relatively easily
identify themselves if required.

The most apparent benefit is that a centralised database will be required to
administer the cards.
What benefit would that be to the individuals issued with the card?

Ian W

-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Hubert, Paul [STU]
Sent: 05 July 2002 11:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: National ID (entitlement) cards


>Why is the introduction of a national ID card considered an infringement of
civil liberties?  I understand the dangers of such a system being extended
beyond its orginal stated purpose, but what is the problem simply with an ID
card?

I think it's at best naive to ask the question 'simply'. This proposal comes
out of the same government department that was seeking to extend the powers
of the RIPA to a wide range of public authorities only a few weeks ago, and
the RIPA has only been in place a couple of years. Whether it's a
'softening-up' exercise or the threat to extend comes from bureaucratic
inertia is probably a matter for elsewhere. It doesn't take a lot of
imagination to work out who are the people who are going to get into
difficulty over not carrying these cards (e.g. black and ethnic minority
people, working class people, young people and particularly anyone who's all
of those things) and for the most part it's not the kind of person who's on
this list.

>I personally think that being able to prove who I am so that my
 identity is not stolen by someone else is a civil liberty in its own
 right.

You can bet there will be a thriving illegal industry based on cracking,
forging and stealing these cards or the information on them precisely for
this purpose. I would not be surprised if it makes stealing people's
identities (or bits of them) easier rather than more difficult.

>many of us don't trust governments where we would trust commercial
companies

Enron? WorldCom? Pension black holes? Railway maintenance? Non-Arriva
Northern Spirit of Despondency? Asbestos? Tobacco firms? All those firms
whose staff ask you for personal data and can't tell you what they're going
to do with it? etc etc. As the song goes, "If you're going to count me,
count me out".

All personal (natch)

Paul

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