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Originally Posted by jwoody
I'd say it was the governments duty to keep accurate information on all of it's citizens. The way I see it they work for me, not the other way round, and I expect them to collect taxes, keep an eye on criminals, hand out benefits only to those who deserve it, etc...
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Agreed, but how much information does the government need to do their job efficiently?
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Of course not but what's the worst that could happen (to me, personally)?
There are call centres in India who have all my personal details and I know for a fact they are being sold on to unscrupulous persons. It doesn't affect how I live my life in the slightest.
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The information that was being sold at one call center was simply credit card numbers...the worst that could happen is that you might have to deal with disputing a charge on your credit card that you did not make, or you might have to cancel your card.
What we are talking about on the National Identity Register (NIR) is a database holding more than just your name and address...this is a database which can hold any information that the government deems fit...and it is a database that will have a list of accessors which will grow over time.
The worst that could happen to you with a system like this? Well, racial profiling, false imprisonment, surveilance of your activities (including that spliff that you smoke behind closed doors)...anything is possible when you give a government powers like this.
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I have nothing to hide. If my government wants to know the answer to any of these questions they only have to ask me. If it helps them serve me better then that's a good thing.
No, that would be paranoid. I don't do anything now that I'm ashamed of or want to hide from the government. I smoke cannabis behind closed doors but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm trying to hide it, I just can't be bothered with the ordeal of being arrested for it.
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If you have nothing to hide, would you agree to the government placing a camera in your house that monitored your activites at all times? This would surely cut down on crime...
Do you feel that the UK and US governments are benevolent entities?