"Rethink on identity cards plans"

The BBC are loyally pushing the Government line that the identity card scheme has been rethought and diluted: "The government has set out changes to its planned identity scheme - including allowing people to use passports or driving licences instead of ID cards. Most people will not now have to give their fingerprints when getting a passport until 2011/12 - three years later than had previously been planned. And plans to force passport applicants to get an ID card have been dropped."

Of course this is bollocks, the ID card is just the froth on the system; the real aim is the National Identity Register - the database behind the identity cards. I have blogged about this before, see here, here and here,



Some extracts for you...

"The National Identity Register (NIR) is the main aim of the 'ID cards' scheme. Your NIR number would be the key to your whole life. Whenever your circumstances change you are compelled to have the register updated and of course it will be automatically updated every time you go on holiday, buy a car, visit the doctor, possibly with a cost each time; that could be every time you move house, buy a car, go on holiday etc. When ANPR comes into force, every car journey could be logged."

"This is another example of Big Brother Britain, this Government will not be happy until we are all on their National Identity Register along with a DNA sample and preferably micro-chipped as well. The Government must be able to track our movements at all times via the microchip and watch us at all times via CCTV; maybe a two way TV in each room would be an idea, now what made me think of that?"

"The "Home Office ... gives some early indications of who, other than suspected terrorists and international criminals, will be on the British no-fly list and be banned from travelling to and from the country. It floats the idea that provisions should be introduced to ban travel overseas for the tens of thousands of offenders who have not paid outstanding court fines or failed to discharge confiscation orders made against them. Although no official estimate exists of the number of people who have to pay court fines the amount they owe has now reached a record £487m, with a further £300m in unpaid confiscation orders." All this travel data will go into a database that will in the future be linked to the NIR. So what could they use this data for? They will start with the unobjectionable - stopping people leaving the country to avoid a court case or whilst on bail, they will move to the hard to object - stopping people leaving the country who owe court imposed fines, move on to the trickier - stopping people from leaving the country who have unpaid parking tickets or haven't paid the BBC licence fee. From there is is not a huge jump to imagine people being prevented from leaving the country to go on holiday because they have: flown already this year and not offset the carbon yet, or have a doctor's appointment during the period they are planned to be abroad, or who have failed to separate their rubbish correctly on more than 3 occasions in the current financial year, or who have not lost the amount of weight that their doctor had advised them to, or who were late in submitting their tax return for the last tax year, or who have library books that have not been returned yet and would become overdue whilst they are away, or who have contributed to non-Government approved blogs, or who voted for an unapproved party at the last election, or who voted for a party other than that of our Glorious Leader in the last election, or who have missed the Two Minutes Hate too many times this year, or who have committed a ThoughtCrime ..."


I suggest that a visit to No2ID will help keep you informed.