Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - ID Cards - UK moves further towards an Orwellian nightmare

07-04-2005, 09:35 AM

I object to the idea, not on grounds of losing my privacy, but because it's a pointless waste of resources.

First, to dispell some myths.

These ID cards will not help law enforcers become any more effective. How does carrying or not carrying a card help a police officer catch a criminal/terrorist/undesirable?

Your purchase records will NOT be stored by the government database - they don't need to, they're perfectly capable of asking your bank to provide details in the event of a criminal investigation, it would be pointless and expensive to record this level of information centrally.

The card (whether it has RFID or not) will be no more capable of tracking your movements than a mobile phone is today. Again, as with bank records, in the event of an investigation, your cell operator is obliged to provide this information to investigators.

ID fraud will not become impossible, in fact, it will be easier for a fraudster to get away with more crime if they successfully manage to forge an ID than it currently is, because a single, trusted peice of ID will open more doors than the current system of checking lots of different sources to validate your identity will.

Governments are widely renouned for their messy and inneficient beaurocracy. Mistakes are made, and people slip through the administrative net. It is already well known that private businesses are hopeless when it comes to keeping track of the information they hold on you. Addresses change, people die, get married etc - the information on your ID will not be of any practical use unless a lot of time and effort is spent keeping it all up to date.

I do see a benefit in linking government services and taxation to such a system - it could make working out your taxes a whole lot easier, streamline government administered services such as healthcare, benefit payments, schooling and transportation (when they finally get around to re-nationalising the rail networks)

But this is already made largely possible using one's National Insurance number (SS number in the US) - Essentially the government's plan is to attach a biometric tag to this number in order to make it harder for people to forge. What they fail to realise is that there will always be methods of circumventing such validation and that all the money spent validating your identity will effectively be for nothing.

07-04-2005, 09:35 AM	#38 (permalink)
zen_tom Guest	I object to the idea, not on grounds of losing my privacy, but because it's a pointless waste of resources. First, to dispell some myths. These ID cards will not help law enforcers become any more effective. How does carrying or not carrying a card help a police officer catch a criminal/terrorist/undesirable? Your purchase records will NOT be stored by the government database - they don't need to, they're perfectly capable of asking your bank to provide details in the event of a criminal investigation, it would be pointless and expensive to record this level of information centrally. The card (whether it has RFID or not) will be no more capable of tracking your movements than a mobile phone is today. Again, as with bank records, in the event of an investigation, your cell operator is obliged to provide this information to investigators. ID fraud will not become impossible, in fact, it will be easier for a fraudster to get away with more crime if they successfully manage to forge an ID than it currently is, because a single, trusted peice of ID will open more doors than the current system of checking lots of different sources to validate your identity will. Governments are widely renouned for their messy and inneficient beaurocracy. Mistakes are made, and people slip through the administrative net. It is already well known that private businesses are hopeless when it comes to keeping track of the information they hold on you. Addresses change, people die, get married etc - the information on your ID will not be of any practical use unless a lot of time and effort is spent keeping it all up to date. I do see a benefit in linking government services and taxation to such a system - it could make working out your taxes a whole lot easier, streamline government administered services such as healthcare, benefit payments, schooling and transportation (when they finally get around to re-nationalising the rail networks) But this is already made largely possible using one's National Insurance number (SS number in the US) - Essentially the government's plan is to attach a biometric tag to this number in order to make it harder for people to forge. What they fail to realise is that there will always be methods of circumventing such validation and that all the money spent validating your identity will effectively be for nothing.