:::Jerry:::: wrote:

If HMG want us to have compulsory ID cards then we will have
compulsory ID cards, like it or not.

Pshaw. The democratic process in the UK isn't perfect, but if sufficient
people don't 'like it' it won't happen. Australia's experience with
their 'citizen card' is instructive: when initially planned, Publick
Opinion was sthg like 70% in support; as the debate progressed and the
proposals were scrutinised more carefully, the proportion swung the
other way, with 70% or so opposed. The plan was abandonulated.

Even the '80% of the population support the idea' survey (details at
http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews...rds-dec-04.asp
) shows the public support, with very little detailed discussion in the
popular media yet, to be very soft. In that survey, the first question
was, roughly, 'ID cards: good or bad?', 81% replying in the 'v good' or
'good' categories. There's then a series of further questions: 'national
biometrics register: good or bad' (no mention of comprehensive audit
trail of presentation of these cards and/or scanning of a matching
biometric, mind) - 81% still in the 'yeah OK' categories; then a series
of polarised statements, covering many of the points we've sketched here
- e.g. 'do you agree more with "govt IT, brewery, great time, organise,
couldn't" or "govt IT, experienced, already run big systems, will do
fine with this one too", generally supporting the gummint arguments
still, though interestingly in a ratio of about 65:35 rather than 80:20.

Until we get to a non-abstract impact: that of personal cost. First qn
here is 'how much would you pay': 30% nowt, next 45% in the "up to 20
quid" boxes. That's 75% accounted for; another 23% cap their enthusiasm
at 50 quid, with none in the 60, 70, 80, 90 bands, but the last 2% in
the "affluent patriots" box of "up to 100 nicker". (They can't *all* be
IT consultants working on privatised gummint IT, can they? :-) Second qn
says "well, HMG figure 35quid, or 85quid combined with a passport. Now
waddya think?" Our 81% fades to 68% - most of the movement being from "v
good" to "good". So, present one new fact, on proposed cost, and support
drops by 13 percentage points out of 81 - that's one-sixth of the
project "supporters" faded away. The survey didn't go on to say, for
example, 'criminals currently gain access to centralised government
databases by slipping 100 quid to people whose low-paid jobs give them
access to those databases. Do you think the gummint will keep the
national identity register and the record of all the times and places
where the ID card's been shown secure against such access?', or similar
questions giving rates of 'hacker' (cracker, really, but we've lost that
linguistic battle!) access to DB systems.

[1] talk has already started about converting passports into pseudo ID
cards, whilst holding the same sort of info as the proposed ID card,

The manouver they've used only allows them to tweak the passport format;
to set up the really significant part of this proposal - the linked
databases of card and biometric usages, and the links to other databases
- needs the primary legislation which was timed out in the last session,
but which will back in the new Parliament.

Unashamedly biased followup info at
http://www.no2id.org.uk and
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/comrace/identitycards/