Whilst I broadly agree with what Ian is saying here, there is one important
fact he overlooks - the photo driving licence cannot become "a true ID
card" simply because not everybody in the country holds one. In countries
that have ID cards they are (usually) required from the age of 16, and in UK
law even a provisional licence can't be issued until the age of 17. There is
also the question of the huge number of people who hold the "old" paper
licence.
In the US the driving licence has become a de facto ID card, with
non-drivers able to obtain an identical document but without (obviously!)
the permission to drive element - the name of this escapes me at the moment.
In order to allow the UK photo driving licence to acquire the same status -
officially or unofficially (by usage) - we would have to embark on a
programme of replacing all paper licences and introducing the non-driving
driving licence. Hopefully these steps wouldn't go un-noticed!
Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: ianwelton [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 April 2004 12:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Compulsory ID cards
[log in to unmask] on 02 April 2004 at 08:46 said:-
> Is it not the case that the people arrested are all British
> citizens? Is it not likely they would have had ID cards if
> the scheme had already been introduced?
ID cards already exist in all but name - look at the photographic driving
licence (public sector) and credit cards (private sector).
With the police already having direct computer access to the driver record
held at DVLA, there only exists the soft 'use for purpose' issue stopping
that becoming a true ID card; That together with a far simpler matter of
allowing policing systems access to the driver photograph would seem to be
the last steps necessary to turn national ID into a reality. In the
commercial sphere consider how a credit card verifies ID, what each of the
credit reference agencies hold, and who may purchase that data? European
legislation and cultures do not seem to hold out much support, as some
member states already have ID.
With principle one and two continually being weakened or dismantled so much
by self interests can any public/private organisation be expected not to
have significant reasons to follow the visible social trend and accept any
associated risks in a similar way, even when strong reasons exist for them
not to? The emulation of successful privacy intruders commenced many years
ago if the various writers of the time were accurate in what they say, is
that any different today?
DREW Nic on 02 April 2004 at 08:14 said:-
> the go ahead for compulsory ID cards, following the discovery this
> week of a suspected British Muslim terror network.
Privacy has seemingly become a mere commodity within all social spheres, so
what real difficulties are there for any organisation intent on turning any
wish affecting individual privacy into a reality? Information privacy (DP)
certainly cannot be seen to be holding any divergent values to those driving
aims of the organisation. The free society is regulated so more regulation
in the interests of that society comes as no surprise, the underlying
paradox does not appear to change, only the situational mechanics of the
justifications proffered.
Graham Hadfield on 02 April 2004 at 08:23 said:-
> Different papers, different spin. This one still has a few laps to run
> I think.
There appear to be very few visible problems to overcome and even fewer
things which could effectively halt or divert the momentum. Serious
political or human rights support for privacy historically appears to have
consisted in sidestepping the difficulties, or perhaps the debates merely
settled in favour of the other interests involved.
Looking towards the development and uses of facial image recognition
technology then merely serves to illustrate the same DP issues, in allied
areas, that the ID and CCTV debate elaborate upon now, so no wonder there
has been much interest in developing such an obvious and potentially
lucrative market.
Ian W
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