ID cards; big brother or big nothing?

Question

In this country (UK) we used to have ID cards during the war and they were phased out. France have identity cards and don't baulk at having to use them - which is very un-french. So why are we so anti? Is it because we are secretive or clandestine, no, so is it just something else to got hot under the collar about as we haven't had a poll tax riot in a long time. I would like to hear from people as well who have them, what are your views of having them?

Answer 1

i cant see them making much difference, just like fake passports & id theft, im sure the same will come from ID cards..

In spain they have always had these ID cards, these cards must be carried at all times, if asked by the police to show ID & you dont have it, you will recieve a big fine...infact in spain without these cards its quite difficult to do anything...

This didnt stop the madrid bombings...

Answer 2

I am very anti ID cards and there are a few reasons for that:

First I come from Egypt where they have ID cards and have done so for 50 years. That has done nothing to deter terrorists. Sharm for example has one of the most stringent security checks...yet there are still bombings. So if it doesn't help national security why are they promoting it as such (sounds like another 'Saddam has weapons of mass destruction' ploy)

Second in Egypt it is FREE I refuse to pay even more money to a government that won't be happy until everything I earn is given to them.

3rd every time the government has come up with a silly scheme it has led to failure. Let us use the most recent example in the news Junior Doctors and this new website for applying...after so many hospitals have pulled out of the scheme they have had to admit they were wrong and are now changing it...in my personal view this is a great opportunity for them to screw up.

4th I am a law abiding citizen I am a Muslim and an Arab......I have already been stopped under the prevention of terrorism act a number of times, which is fine. But should the need be there, with my details they can make me a scapegoat...NO THANKS. I have worked hard all my life and don't want it thrown away like the people in Guantanamo or the lads from Birmingham who were taken away for a week and then they realised they are ordinary citizens....

Answer 3

I have to say that I am not comfortable with the notion of ID cards. We already have ID that we can produce when required (driving licence, passport, etc.) and I don't see the need for any more.

I also dislike the fact that it is the public who will have to fund these cards - estimates have gone up to £100+, which seems more than excessive.

Mostly, though, I am concerned about the kind of information that would be stored on the cards: fingerprints, iris scans, blood types, etc. I am very uncomfortable with this much information being stored about me on a central database. I know the old adage that 'it won't matter if you've nothing to hide', but I don't agree. I dislike the idea that the government would have all these details, I consider it an infringement upon my civil liberties; but moreso I am concerned about the security of the information. I'm sure that we will be told that there will be plenty of security measures, but, let's face it, the Home Office cannot locate its own backside so I don't trust it to look after my details and protect them from fraudsters and identity thieves.

I'm sure that ID cards will come to Britain - this government does whatever it likes without reference to the people - but I, for one, won't support them.

Answer 4

I think national id cards are a good idea. For 2 reasons it can be used a proof of id for a multitude of things. Just think 1 size fits all, It means no having to get a separate passport, debit card, national insurance card, driving licence. It would be on 1 card. It would also counter terrorism as well because the police would stop you and put it into a machine and it would give details whether or not they have a criminal record.

The only people who dont want an national id card are people with something to hide. The only problem with it is the cost I think its will cost about £81 each.

Answer 5

I agree with pretty much everything that As_It_Is and Ivan R had to say.

I would add the government are twisting themselves into knots trying to justify id cards. First they said their main purpose was to combat the threat of terrorism. Then when pushed on the matter, they admitted that they wouldn't be effective for that purpose. Then they said they were to combat benefit fraud, and had to admit that they wouldn't be effective for that either. Then they tried identity theft as a justification, until it was shown that id cards might actually make it easier for criminals to steal somebodies identity.

So it must be asked, what exactly are they for? I suspect the real reason this government has in mind is to gather marketing information, so that businesses can inundate us with "targeted" spam and junk mail. But in the future, perhaps under an even more unethical government, they could be used as a very sinister means to limit our freedom.

Answer 6

I still cant see any real security in the cards they like any security document have to be made and if a product can be manufactured it can be forged or easier still bought like it or not every thing does have it's price this is not necessarily financial threat and fear can also make people venerable so the security of these cards is questionable without the invasion of peoples right to privacy
If a system can be devised that is not forgeable I might be convinced but this would have to be 100% fool proof or there is No point in instigating it

Answer 7

If ID cards were used for ID only no problem it is the proposal to sell your information to any company that is prepared to pay for it that worries me. The ultimate would be for every person to have a readable chip or bar code on your neck which could be installed at birth then the dictators would know where and what you are doing from cradle to grave . Science fiction has a way of becoming true.

Answer 8

I don't think we need ID cards - what it the point?

If I open a new bank account, or am required to give id, I use my passport or driving licencse.

If it is to stop nasty terrorists blowing things up - try telling people that live in Madrid that it works.

Besides, who will look after the records? How safe are they going to be?

What if my identity is stolen? Now, I can start with other accounts. What is my iris scan is compromised by fraudsters? I can't get myself a new eyeball or finger prints!

Answer 9

In my opinion it is a good thing. I'm a college student at the moment but 19 so it is hard without a driving lisence which i'm not paying £40 for when I don't want to learn to drive or a standard ID card which takes forever in the post and then its not accepted at most places or a passport when I've never been abroad.

Being asked to prove who you are without photographic idea is very difficult and with all these new legistlations of having to 'prove' everything ID cards would be an excellent way to do it. I don't particularly think it is a Big Brother system but i'd like to know that as long as we have them, underage kids will stop buying booze or fags.

Answer 10

Big Brother. Think of the Oyster Card for teenagers, it allows people to watch their movements. An ID card would be just as bad. OK, I don't know about us being secretive people, but I agree that we love to reject ideas and attack proposals by the government. But with that said, I still think that it would be exactly like the government watching us. So I say NO ID!!

Answer 11

Perhaps it's because they're a weak answer to a complex issue? Or perhaps it's because the Government themselves don't entirely know what problems the ID card will solve? Or perhaps it's because Government is known to change its stance regarding just *what* issues the ID card *should* solve? Or perhaps it's because the ID card won't actually solve any single issue, but only serve to "make it someone else's problem"? Or perhaps it's that the ID card, and associated technologies, are flawed by design because the technology to implement them as promised just isn't sufficiently capable enough? Or perhaps it's because Government has a nasty habit of implementing seemingly 'liberating' Acts of Parliament that, somewhere down the road, turn out to serve an entirely contradictory agenda? (Nonsense!) Or perhaps it's because we're not just talking about a card with our ID on it, but a nationwide database profiling us, as individuals, based on information acquired by means beyond our legal control? Or perhaps it's because some Britons who actually get off their asterixes have had enough with being told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, where to do it and who to do it to, that they're in a prime position to glance behind the veil of 'democracy' and recognise that the ID card - as proposed by this Government - has only one true and disingenuous purpose: promote a surveillance state? Or perhaps it's because the ID card is just another step closer to tagging us at birth, classifying us in youth and conditioning us in adulthood? Or perhaps it's for all these reasons, and much, much more besides?

If you're for the ID card, fine - keep quiet, don't rock the boat and live comfortably in the knowledge that "I've nothing to hide, so I've nothing to fear" and being a private citizen means little to me. But if you believe in privacy - especially if you're middle class, where your vote actually counts - then let it be known, because if you give Government - any Government - an inch then they *will* take a yard. They live, we sleep (in a stupor).

Fascist Spain, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia - history has taught us nothing... Our American cousins have a Bill of Rights whose whole purpose is to *restrict* the powers of Government (okay, so it's cracking under federal presure), whereas we in the UK have 24 hours drinking laws and almost a quarter of the world's CCTV so's to give hoodies something to hide their faces from. Go figure.

But anyway, yes: the ID card is just another something-bloody-else to get all hot under the collar over. ;-)