Do you think people in England should have ID cards?

Question

Whoa, what a respond! I will let voters choose the best answer, as I am not English.
In my country everyone holds ID cards and it has been always like that. We think like that: Passport is for travelling, Driving license for driving and ID card is used as proof of your identity.

Thanks everyone for answering. x

Answer 1

no, it will be just another badly organised, expensive way for the governement to make people believe they are doing something,

it wont stop terrorism and it wont stop fraud, they soon find ways to get round it

and if its compulsory i dont agree that we shuold have to pay for ID cards, what a cheek

Answer 2

No - I OPPOSE. My reason is because the proposed UK ID Card will not operate as do those of France, Germany and the rest of the EU where the national ID cards are accepted as 'passports' across the EU. We will still have to buy an expensive ten year passport on top of the over priced ID card, which some say may cost as much as £90 to £150.

The code to the new UK passport has already been broken by a computer expert working for the Guardian Newspaper - it uses exactly the same code as the proposed new ID card. So much then for security.

ID cards and passports are easily forged by expert forgers working for criminals - no matter what the government may think or say. There is no such thing as an non-forge-able document - it is already being done and will continue to be done.

ID cards and passports do not stop crime. The ID card will not stop terrorists. Any terrorist who wants to land on the Island of Britain can easily do so using a remote bay or cove where there is not security what-so-ever.

If you live in London and use an Oyster card, you are being followed around town. You are also being photographed about 300 times a day as you go about your lawful business.

Everyone in UK is now classed as a "SUSPECT". Meanwhile, the criminals and terrorists go about undetected and uninterrupted in their work.

Answer 3

No
1. Passport ran out and cannot afford the £60+ for new one
2. Driving Licence is old style paper one and cannot afford £20+ to get a new one
3. Have been told ID card will cost anywhere from £90 to £300. Guess what - can't afford that either!
4. Lastly and most importantly; the criminally minded will always find a way a round the system. Its what they thrive on. Look how they infiltrated places to carry out 9/11 and 7/7!!!

Like most money making ideas, they look good on paper and in theory but will not end well (Council Tax, Congestion Charge, etc.)

Answer 4

Wow 180 answers and 2 days to go! This sure shows the public feeling on this one.

Like James Bondage I don't think we should have to carry ID card everywhere we go - I mean what a nuisance and how about on the beach!?

Seriously though, the terrorists and criminals will always find a way of duplicating them anyway. The other thing is the expense! If some of us can't afford this what happens then? - a fine I expect, which would mean you were even less likely to afford to pay for an ID.

It is true that we already have IDs in the form of passports and driving liciences but I know someone who has never driven or been abroad so doesn't have, or intend to get either. There must be other like this too.

I agree that the government will loose votes on this one if they bring it in - although they are probably assured the 'immigrant vote' which is growing in numbers daily.

Answer 5

Short answer = No.
Most people don't remember Gordon Brown telling The Guardian only last year that personal information from the identity card system would be sold to corporations - that wouldn't be dependent on whether or not you've done anything wrong and could, given that information on your DNA is held, be used to preclude you and your children from medical cover on the grounds that your genes indicate a greater than average chance of certain conditions or diseases.

I have been doing some work with tracking devices. How many people know that Oyster cards are radio frequency identification (RFID) tags (tracking devices)? The current model is passive, meaning that it can only be read when held close to a reader unit. I have been looking into both passive and active tags. Active tags can be read from up to 200 feet away, and can be combined with other technologies such as mobile phones (with which your location can already be narrowed down to about 150 metres) and GPS (10 metres (non-military) / 1 metre (military)). I have sample tags including several that can be incorporated (unnoticeably) into clothing and one designed to sit underneath skin!! How many people know that Motorola have bought one of the big players in the RFID market?

ID cards are an EU proposal and are NOT going 2 combat terrorism, as other respondents have rightly pointed out. Unfortunately, most people are misinformed about the real threat(s). The truth really is out there but you need to find it for yourself - don't expect to get it handed to you on a plate. Remember: the truth can always withstand questioning.

Answer 6

I don't have a particular problem with the idea of an ID card per se - after all, as many other answerers have pointed out, we all have a bunch of documents already that "prove" who we are and what our intent is likely to be. I do however have a real problem with the idea of biometric data being a necessary part of such a card. This, it seems to me, is the kind of information that previously, onlly those suspected of a crime could be compelled to give - fingerprints, DNA samples, etc, and I really don't like the idea that the entire populace are 'guilty till proven innocent.'

Long story short, I'm a journalist, and I'm writing a feature on this kind of thing. I recently interviewed the Director of a new Centre for Homeland Security, who said the balance between protecting the lives of UK citizens and protecting the rights of UK citizens was where the grey area was. In the UK, unlike the US, there's going to be commercial competition to provide homeland security services, such as ID cards, ID scanners etc - so at least someone's happy with it.

Also spoke to a leading maker of biometric scanners, and he was both chilling and hopeful. On the one hand, he told me flat out that biometric ID cards wouldn't be of any damn use in combatting terrorism, because people that want to get around them probably would - you actually drive the ingenuity of those who would get around it the more technically difficult you make your card. He said the use of biometrics would be proven in combatting identity fraud and allowing access to restricted areas, rather than combatting the terrorist threat, or indeed as others have suggested, being used in immigration or welfare services.

And on the other hand, he showed me a system that even I might, grudgingly, get behind - a biometric photograph. No DNA, no retina-scanning, no fingerprinting, just a photograph, taken by a machine capable of finding the unique points of the facial structure, and giving positive ID under any kind of makeup or disguise, and in any kind of light. Since we are already one of the most photographed nations on the planet, this seemed like a non-invasive way of making ID cards work.

Do I think we should have them? No, still can't see the point, really. But if we're going to have them, it's the invasive and involuntary giving of biometric information that's the line I don't think we should cross.

Answer 7

Personally I would prefer we didn't have such things, but sadly it is so easy to copy and steel our identities these days with all the technology around we may come to the conclusion that we are better off in the end. If it replaced a whole lot of other stuff, such as a separate driving license and N.I. card it might be a useful tool in our everyday lives. The down side is the potential for misuse as we slide into a police state. ID cards or not unless we start to take our democracy seriously and speak up for our country we are going to loose real freedoms.

Answer 8

I do not think British citizens should have to have ID cards. The ending of ID cards after the 2nd World War was a sign that Britain was a free nation at peace once more.

Why should a citizen of Britain have to prove who they are to the authorities simply to go about their business. We have ID for all the individual important transactions - passports to travel, licenses to drive, etc. But we do not have to have an ID to exist, nor should we.

What's more, it will produce a hugely expensive system, and will end up penalising poor people who lead chaotic lives while the organised criminals will find new ways to profit from it.

Answer 9

I don't see the problem with ID cards. I am Singaporean and we are all given an ID card when we are 12 years old, its almost a right of passage.

On our ID cards contains a photo, finger print, and our blood group. Having the blood group on the card is greatly beneficial, most people don't actually know what blood group they are, this helps the emergency service and hospitals as they can just give blood when needed. As opposed to here in the UK where hospitals have to test a persons blood first before administering any needed blood.

I can't see how people are so upset about 'civil liberties' firstly an ID would protect people from fraud, you could verify who you are very easily. It is also great for people who don't drive as you have a form of identification already. I think the only civil liberties we would protect by not having it is the criminals that seek to infringe our human rights thought theft and violence.

Answer 10

Yes, why not come into line with nearly every other country in the western world most of who have been using them for decades.
I think every child should have their DNA on a data base from the day they are born as well, I am a firm believer in the fact that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. Detractors from this are quick to point out that mistakes can be made and innocent people could be criminalised because of a computer error or similar this is a possibility of course but how many innocent people are being locked up now because of bad policing or record keeping etc.
Any system can have faults I just hope that what ever the government do regarding ID cards they get it right

Answer 11

Yes.
Other countries have them and don't seem to have any problems.
There are too many people spouting off about 'infringment of our civil liberties' etc.
Unfortunately, the world we now live in is 'dog eat dog'. The majority of people, especially in the UK are decent and law abiding. It is only a minority that cause the problems, and probably it is from these quarters where most of the negativity stems from regarding ID cards.
However, I do beleive that the government should pay for them and not the individual.
Big brother is here to stay so we may as well accept it..If you have nothing to hide, then you should have no fears of ID cards.