The latest edition of my Trade Union magazine 'PCS View' has an article about the National Identity Scheme. Christine Zaba from NO2ID explains exactly what the scheme means:
At the PCS National Conference 4 years ago a motion was passed to oppose the scheme. Now Identity & Passport Service (IPS) staff are finding that their roles are changing from serving the public to enforcing a surveillance system. In addition to that, PCS members who work for British Airports Authority (BAA) may have to register with the scheme as early as 2009 if they wish to keep their jobs. This will effectively make them the guinea pigs for the biggest automated state identity management scheme ever known.
What a surprise that none of this has been subject to public debate!!! Big Brother is watching and waiting... Frightening isn't it?
"The proposed British ‘identity management scheme’ is the most complex in the world. It’s not just about carrying an ID card, but about a national database: the national identity register.The article goes on to explain that the data will be the legal property of the Home Secretary who has the power to share this information with anyone he or she chooses without asking permission. The loss of the identity card will incur a civil penalty of £1000 which is payable immediately.
The register will hold a huge number of details about you under your personal identifying number, including 50 categories of ‘registrable fact’, personal biometrics (fingerprints, iris scan, facial scan), and a constantly updated stream of information as you use your card. The amount of information the government will have on us will effectively be infinite."
At the PCS National Conference 4 years ago a motion was passed to oppose the scheme. Now Identity & Passport Service (IPS) staff are finding that their roles are changing from serving the public to enforcing a surveillance system. In addition to that, PCS members who work for British Airports Authority (BAA) may have to register with the scheme as early as 2009 if they wish to keep their jobs. This will effectively make them the guinea pigs for the biggest automated state identity management scheme ever known.
What a surprise that none of this has been subject to public debate!!! Big Brother is watching and waiting... Frightening isn't it?
12 comments:
It becomes even worse when you stop to think on four important factors:
1. The ID card will have to be presented when you do ANYTHING. From booking a dentist appointment or a plane ticket, to paying your bar tab or hiring a book from the local library. The government will know exactly what you are doing, where you are going, who you are going with and how much its costing you. You will no longer have any right to privacy. And of course, the data gathered by the card isn't subject to the Data Protection Act - you can't request it to be amended or destroyed, and the government can do whatever they want with it.
2. The whole idea behind this is to "protect" us from terrorists. We had to deal with the IRA for over 30 years and we never needed a national ID register for that. The terrorists that blew themselves up in Madrid all had valid ID cards - Spain does have a somewhat more watered down version of the ID card scheme. It didn't protect them did it?
3. Our esteemed overseers in Westminster will be outside the scope of the ID card system. As the old saying goes: Quid custodiat ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen?) The answer it would seem is no one.
4. If you should happen to "lose" or "deface" the ID card, the system will be alerted almost immediately and you will be found guilty, without arrest, trial or conviction, of a criminal offence, and ordered to replace the card at a cost of some £1600 from your own pocket.
Those four points skim over all the other problems that would be inherent in setting up a scheme like this. For example, the government is already in debt up to its eyeballs having borrowed more than it can repay for the next several years to foot the bill for Iraq and the Olympics, amongst other things. Where will the money come from? Her Majesty's taxpayer will end up footing the bill one way or another.
Then of course there is the matter of security. The Americans trialled a system like this on a very small scale a few years back, and found it to be unworkable. The sheer volume of data being processed by the system meant that security was almost non-existent. Given that the government has already proven that it can't be trusted to keep the data it already holds about us in responsible and secure manner, why should we believe that this system (which will hold far more data than all current systems combined) will be more secure?
The simple truth is, this idea is a massive infringement into the constitutional right of freedom that every person in this country has, and those that came up with the idea are nothing short of traitors.
I do seem to have gone on a bit, but this is a very important subject, and one that I monitor with great interest.
The Australian government is trying to bring in the National ID card. The fingerprints thing hasn't been mentioned but lots of other personal details will be on it. Sounds like common spying to me.
Brilliant title!
The opposition to this is so disorganised and half hearted, it's depressing.
I suspect the Tories would bring them in too, whatever Cameron says now.
Leastways, they CERTAINLY won't repeal them.
Andi - Thank You, you do seem to have provided enough information for a complete post on your blog ;-)
Nunyaa - It seems to be the way the world is going at the moment. You should investigate to find out exactly what they have planned for your ID scheme.
Crushed - It is rather depressing isn't it? Yes I think the Tories would bring them in too, there really isn't that much to differentiate between the two parties at the moment.
It all sounds very scary. And what Britain does, Ireland copies. That will probably catch me both ways!
dragonstar - It is scary, you need to keep an eye on it!
that is scary!
Liz - Big brother is watching!
On the subject of taking liberties, there is a very good film, along with an accompanying book, called just that: Taking Liberties. I have seen the film, and it makes for pretty worrying viewing. I'd still recommend it to anyone out there though - if you can find a copy to borrow or rent, it's well worth watching just to see exactly how far we have fallen in the past decade...
Andi - I have seen part of the film, I really must get onto finishing that off. Who is the book by?
Cherry - the book is by an author called Chris Atkins. Its available from Amazon.
Andi - Thanks for that :-)
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