Compulsory Identity Cards?

[A Lost Iguana]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[Mr. Bono Vox]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[and_solo_said]

I stand corrected.

Yet I sit in defiance!  

[Invictus_88]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[A Lost Iguana]

The EU roll-out is August but I do not know of member states' plans to only accept biometric passports. The US is the only place I know will hold the fact you passport is not biometric against you: you'll then need a visa despite which country's passport you hold.

The actual data are supposed to be things like fingerprints, your face, retina scans, etc.; all a biometric passport will do is store more information about your person so that you can justify who your are more readily than an out-of-date passport. Still I'm sure some will say this is a denial of human rights or what have you.

I find nothing terribily wrong with storing the data in principle.

An interesting thing about the whole ID card debate is that there already exists a system for inter-European travel without needing a passport, the ID card is enough for the countries signed up to the treaty. [They was some merriment when a couple of Spanish footballers used to travelling through Europe on their ID cards needed to play a game in a country that had no such agreement and they had forgotten their passports; how silly]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

Oh course, we are soft on immigration because we actually opted to control our borders. rolleyes  

[Innocent Starlight]

Well i for one will refuse to have an ID card. I realise this will probably mean me being locked away in jail but these things happen.

In 1950 mr Willcock refused to produce his ID card to a police officer, it then went to court:

Quote:

When Willcock v Muckle eventually reached the High Court in 1951, Lord Chief Justice Goddard said the continuation of the wartime ID card scheme was an "annoyance" to much of the public and "tended to turn law-abiding subjects into law breakers".

It was then abolished.

They have to be joking if they think im getting one. I'll leave the country before i do.  

[Invictus_88]

Innocent Starlight

Well i for one will refuse to have an ID card. I realise this will probably mean me being locked away in jail but these things happen.

In 1950 mr Willcock refused to produce his ID card to a police officer, it then went to court:

Quote:

When Willcock v Muckle eventually reached the High Court in 1951, Lord Chief Justice Goddard said the continuation of the wartime ID card scheme was an "annoyance" to much of the public and "tended to turn law-abiding subjects into law breakers".

It was then abolished.

They have to be joking if they think im getting one. I'll leave the country before i do.

Don't worry.

You won't be alone.  

[Angra-Mainyu]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[and_solo_said]

Since when has having an ID card got anything to do with democracy?

Its a goddamn piece of plastic that you show to people at nightclubs so they let you in. What else is it going to be for?

Nothing is going on that card that the government don't already know or couldn't easily find out.

So what if you become a number? You dont have to start referring to yourself as ******** style="color: #ece6c5">Ah tmesis...  

[Emmanuela]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already but...

It doesn't matter whether we have I.D. cards or not, as the government still have all the information that would go on it anyway. When you get your passport renewed you have to have eye scans, D.N.A tests I think though you might not, and finger prints etc. So, even if we do get them then there will be no additional information about us that the government will have already, they would just make the information more accessible, and therefore easier to steal.

I'm personally against I.D. cards; they're a waste of government money, in breach of our right to privacy, and just a general waste of time.

Quote:

So what if you become a number? You dont have to start referring to yourself as ********.

Yeah, but still, do you want to become a number, become uniform with eeryone else? Loose your individuality? We all have so many numbers anyway, that I doubt one more will make much difference, but still, that's beside the point. I want to be who I want, I do not want some conformist pro-comunist sod telling me what to do. I want to be individual and myself, I don't want to be like everyone else, and if having a piece of plastic in my pocket with all of my personal details on it, will then, I'm moving to Canada. Don't I have a right to privacy? My right to freedom?

And anyway, it's just a waste of money... Just think how many hospital beds one could buy with the budget for I.D. cards? How many teachers? God knows, we need money for the N.H.S.  

[Emmanuela]

Quote:

Pah, who needs democracy? XD

I'm assuming you're being cynical, right? Have you read 1984? In fact, have you studied the rise of Nazi facism? Have you watch Holocaust videos of...? Yeah, I have strong views on this.  

[Invictus_88]

Emmanuela

Quote:

Pah, who needs democracy? XD

I'm assuming you're being cynical, right? Have you read 1984? In fact, have you studied the rise of Nazi facism? Have you watch Holocaust videos of...? Yeah, I have strong views on this.

Well, quite.

Though that's not to say that democracy is perfect in itself. The highest goal is defence of the people under defence of liberty.

It just so happens that democracy is one of the better and fairer methods we've found so far.  

[Invictus_88]

Emmanuela

...

So, even if we do get them then there will be no additional information about us that the government will have already, they would just make the information more accessible, and therefore easier to steal.

...

I'm personally against I.D. cards; they're a waste of government money, in breach of our right to privacy, and just a general waste of time.

...

And anyway, it's just a waste of money... Just think how many hospital beds one could buy with the budget for I.D. cards? How many teachers? God knows, we need money for the N.H.S.

A dangerous and expensive excercise with little discernible benefit for the cardholder.

Not only that, but this government has proven itself consistently untrustworthy when it comes to awarding contracts and so the whole exercise would very probably finish far overbudget to the sole benefit of key Labour Party donators.  

[and_solo_said]

Emmanuela

Quote:

So what if you become a number? You dont have to start referring to yourself as ********.

Yeah, but still, do you want to become a number, become uniform with eeryone else? Loose your individuality? We all have so many numbers anyway, that I doubt one more will make much difference, but still, that's beside the point. I want to be who I want, I do not want some conformist pro-comunist sod telling me what to do. I want to be individual and myself, I don't want to be like everyone else, and if having a piece of plastic in my pocket with all of my personal details on it, will then, I'm moving to Canada. Don't I have a right to privacy? My right to freedom?

How does being called a number by a computer that can only possibly calculate in numbers take away my individuality? how does it make me 'uniform'? Will the card start picking out my clothes and telling my what CDs I should buy?

If not carrrying identification is the only thing that makes you an individual, then you wouldn't loose much if they did force us all into uniform.

As for privacy, can you read information chips at a glance? Would the doorman at the club that you chose to go to be able to tell that you have a genetic disposition towards eating disorders by looking at a little gold patch encoded with ACGTCATGC?

Freedom? People go out wearing ribbons on their suits to say 'LOOK AT ME! I'M GAY, AND I DON'T CARE BECAUSE I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE, BECAUSE I LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY!' How will a card take away your freedom? If I had one, I'd go to Cuba, stand outside Guantanamo and flash it, shouting 'LOOK AT ME! I AM A FREE MAN FROM A FREE COUNTRY AND THIS CARD PROVES IT!'

And for further reference, I am pro-communist. Do you wish to take issue with this? To challenge my freedoms to think as I so wish?  

[Invictus_88]

I think the main problem is that the database misused could easily take away many freedoms.