On Thu, 19 May 2005 21:38:29 +0100, "Grumps"
wrote:

The only people who might object to id cards are those who are either
illegal in this country or those who have something to hide!!!!
In one way or another we carry id cards now! either a driving licence or
credit/debit card so what's the objections?.,

Are you aware of the following?

1. The ID card will cost perhaps as much as £85 and when it's
compulsory, that is effectively a stealth tax just for existing.

2. The ID card will have sophisticated technology which means that you
can be tracked silently wherever you go by any government body,
council official, or nominated private company. You won't need to
proffer the card. Just being in the vicinity of a scanner will be all
it takes to capture your personal details.

3. Everyone will become a suspect. No longer innocent until proven
guilty, we will all become guilty of 'something' and it will only be a
matter of time until cross-referencing by government civil servants
finds it out.

4. There will great emphasis on "checking up" because "jobsworth"
officials will have the means, and therefore they will invent a need.
Ethnic minorities will be particularly vulnerable.

5. There will big fines or even imprisonment for those who don't
comply with the card's demands:

- A fine for not reporting lost, stolen, damaged or defective cards
- A fine for not renewing a card
- A fine for not submitting to fingerprinting
- A fine for not providing information demanded by the government
- A fine for not attending an interview at a specified place and time
- A fine for not reporting any change in personal circumstances
(including change of address)
- A fine for not attending an appointment for a scan of your
fingerprints and iris.

6. Up to fifty categories of your personal details will be stored on
the government database and these details made available to many
organisations without your knowledge.

These are only a few of the many reasons why ID cards are such a bad
idea. To them you could add the enormous cost, which stands now at
around £6bn but is likely to rise astronomically, and the fact that
the government's record on delivering functioning IT projects has been
abysmally poor, mired in incompetence, and subject to enormous wastage
of taxpayers' money which has mostly been poured into the coffers of
foreign private companies.

I think the British public is entitled to be clued up first about the
real impact the card will have before they are asked whether they
support it or not. Of course, if you tell someone that this magical
juju will protect their wife and kiddies from the terrible monsters
that lurk over the mountain, of course many are going to want one. But
you might as well pull the wool right down over their eyes and
hoodwink them properly.

MM