Today the Home Secretary, David Blunkett pushes on with his ‘scheme’ to introduce identity cards to Britain despite considerable opposition from two senior Cabinet colleagues, Gordon Brown and Jack Straw. But Tony’s behind him, so they don’t count. Natch.
It might be amusing to watch the man’s pathetic stumble down the Orwellian path, if not for the fact that his totalitarian impulses have a profound impact on freedom and life in this country. And, of course, his actions do nothing to address immigration and welfare fraud, two of the poster-issues for Big Blunkett’s campaign. Not that I want him to do anything about that either, apart from to get the f*** out of that too. But I digress.
The Telegraph article linked above talks about unveiled plans for a new national identity card with his [Blunkett’s] most forceful argument yet in favour of the scheme. I would expect them to reproduce or at least hint at the ‘most forceful argument yet’ in the article. This is all I found:
For a long time, we have relied on minimal internal controls and strong external borders – this is no longer enough. An ID card is not a luxury or a whim – it is a necessity.
I know some people believe there is a sinister motive behind the cards; that they will be part of a Big Brother state. This is wrong.
Only basic information will be held on the ID card database – such as your name, address, birthday and sex. It will not have details of religion, political beliefs, marital status or your health records.
Indeed, that is so not Big Brother, you Big Blunkett.
White Rose has a post or two about this as well as a link to the official Home Office document (pdf).
Nice timing. Let’s remember those fallen in opposing tyranny overseas and Blunkett furthers it at home.
I’m really sorry if my comparison is in anyway demeaning to those who suffered, but the only thing that my mind can see when id cards come up is this.
Other than writing on blogs what concrete actions can be taken to oppose this? Write to the mp? How does a countryside alliance style demo can get off the ground?
This seems to be another example of the profound constitutional problem we have. If cabinet government fails, as it appears to have done here, what legislative check is there on the executive? We can expect to see this act whipped though the commons, railroaded through committee, and the Lords simply ignored – all so long as it has Tony Blair’s fiat. One wonders that if this patently unpopular Bill goes through what will be the limit of New Labour’s legislative ambition?
If you’re interested… David Blunkett will be on the 7 o’clock Channel4 news this evening to explain how ID cards will improve all our lives. They are accepting e-mails from viewers with questions for him (send to “news@channel4.com”, subject “ID Card”).
—–Original Message—–
From: Robert Hinkley
Sent: 11 November 2003 17:18
To: ‘news@channel4.com’
Subject: ID Card
Dear Mr Blunkett,
It is often asserted that ID cards are an essential part of the fight against terrorism in the post-9/11 world. How, specifically, would an identity card for UK citizens make us safer from terrorist acts carried out by middle-easterners? For example, please give a concrete example of how an identity card for UK citizens would make it more difficult for Saudi Arabians to seize control of an airliner and crash it into an office building.
Regards,
Rob Hinkley
As an expatriate Brit with no intention of returning to live in England, I am interested to know how this will affect me.
Only basic information will be held on the ID card database – such as your name, address, birthday and sex.
He forgot to mention the other basic information: fingerprints, iris scans, and facial recognition data.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031111/D7UOG29G0.html
Expatriates will be affected if they plan to continue using their passport beyond its renewal date/2007, whichever is later. The new passports will contain biometric identifiers such as fingerprints or iris scans and will double as ID cards.
I’ve yet to see anyone even attempt to give an explanation of how the cards will help prevent terrorism, benefit fraud, crime or identity theft. Only assertions that they will. Yet I can think of many reasons why they won’t. Not the least of which is that in order to issue these cards the govt needs somehow to identify us, and thus if the cards are unforgeable, those who’d defeat them will focus on the documentation required to get one rather than forging the card itself…
Whilst the law abiding will of course get them and thus be subject to their info being stored in a central database accessible by all and sundry in officialdom.
I’m afraid the biggest problem is that most people are not alarmed by this. One can think of all sorts of ways to throw a spanner in the works, but if there is not enough massive public outrage to frighten the wits out of the bastards that are suggesting this, the spanners will simply be withdrawn and the program will continue.
Let me be a devil’s advocate and ask a question that needs to be descriptively and graphically answered over and over if this is to be stopped:
Specifically, what bad things will happen if everyone has to carry an ID card? Don’t just wring your hands and cry that this is awful, use your libertarian imaginations and go into details. That is what will start upsetting people. If blogs are the seminal source of wider social and political ideas that we think they are, this would be a good time to spit on your intellectual hands grab a shovel and get busy.
There is the basic problem of data entry,those who do it are at the bottom of the heap, bored, uninterested and living for the weekend.Information will be gathered,probably by getting us to fill in forms.We too are bored and uninterested,busy or in a hurry and definately living for the weekend..The people who examine the cards will share these attributes but have the steel trap closed mind of the jobsworth.So when you you get arrested with a card with the wrong address and someone elses iris scan think of Mr Blunkett.
James Hammerton writes: “[…]thus if the cards are unforgeable, those who’d defeat them will focus on the documentation required to get one rather than forging the card itself…”
First, nothing is unforgeable. Second, forgery is not the only way. There’s corruption and extortion to get false originals. (The weakest link is data-entry, not documentation.) And card-cloning. And theft.
Most cases where it is valuable (and in practice essential) to have a card there won’t be facilities for full scan and database link, so having a perfect working one won’t be necessary, nor will having one that matches you.
Compare the standard practice for criminals in London to have other people’s number-plates now there is a congestion charge enforced by camera scanning. Consider that where regulations currently demand sight of a passport or driving licence, any passport or driving license will often do, the object of the clerk being to tick a box, not check identity.
Expect there to be more ID theft when ID is more valuable and more necessary.
Why do we hate ID cards?
A drivers licence is a state permission to drive a car.
A passport is a state permission to travel abroad.
An ID card is a state permission to exist.
Those in power are granting us the right to be citizens.
A commenter above asked that we should sketch out scenarios to show how ID cards could really rile folk. Well, if the police and other officials are constantly asking people, at random, for “their papers”, then that will surely piss folk off. We haven’t had any real experience in the UK of mass stop-and-search powers being used. Think how this will go down among certain ethnic groups, who are bound to get targeted, for example.
ID cards will be a boon to the forgery industry and a total waste of time. But I guess the government knows this, but doesn’t care so long as it is seen to be “doing something”.
Will the Tories oppose it? Well, early indications suggest they might. But as the Daily Telegraph leader said it on Wednesday, Leader Michael Howard, who once pressed for ID cards, needs to eat some humble pie and come out against them. Not holding my breath.
Specifically, what bad things will happen if everyone has to carry an ID card?
One possibility:
I understand that under the South American dictatorships, your ID card stated whether you had completed national service. It was thus unnecessary to hunt down draft dodgers/conscientious objectors – they would eventually be caught when asked to show their papers.
Blunkett:It [the ID card database] will not have details of religion, political beliefs, marital status or your health records.
but a cluster of other databases will and they will link into the ID card via its unique key.
Imagine the potential of an ID card to allow you to ‘access’ the NHS if it also allows medical staff to instantly pull up your electronic medical records.
Imagine the benefits of being able to properly enforce Mr Blunkett’s view that BNP members should be excluded from the police force. We need a national database of political affiliations to make that work properly – tied in to the ID card to make sure the correct individuals are identified.
And of course, although employers are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation, this can’t be properly policed until a consistent scheme of ethnic classification and monitoring is put in place.
Waste of money? No. It will be the best value New Labour has ever had from a scheme.
National compulsory IDs won’t make welfare fraud more difficult, but easier: With a standardised ID to forge, fraudsters will know right off the bat what they have to do. This is the same argument regarding the 9/11 attacks — standardised (by Big Government) airplane security measures made it easier for the hijackers to take over planes of multiple airlines.
Read this article about how one woman’s Medicare ID number was used for fraud. (Of course she’s not the only one!)
Currently it does not appear that UK citizens will be required to carry an ID card, but it will eventually be against the law not to register for one.
For those UK citizens who intend not to comply with registration, I would recommend the following steps:
Renew your passport immediately, so you can travel abroad for 10 years on your UK passport without having to register & get ID tagged.
Consider 2nd citizenship, with the aim of acquiring a 2nd passport before the deadline. This will allow you to travel worldwide without being biometrically tagged, and you can remain in the UK without penalty until ID cards become compulsory. Even after compulsion, you can passively resist in the UK by simply letting your UK passport expire and refusing to get an ID tag. Of course, emigration is another option.
As 2nd passports I would consider Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, all English-speaking and none of which currently have any form of ID card. Some EU countries also have voluntary ID cards e.g. France, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria (there may be others, I don’t have a definitive list).
Alternatively, fake passports are widely available on the black market, although the better passports will become harder to fake as time goes on.
Guy, don’t worry I wasn’t under the misapprehension that anything was unforgeable. I perhaps should have written “Even if the cards could be made unforgeable (which they can’t)…”.
I entirely agree that these other options exist…
Cobden, your advice will help those wishing to resist but the tactics suggested may only be available for a limited time. E.g. with America due to start demanding biometric identifiers on passports for entry into the country, how long do you think other countries will hold out from introducing such identifiers on their passports?
… which does bring to light one potentially useful political tactic against them.
ID cards and biometrics can, fairly accurately, be characterised as an imposition by the US. So the antiglobalisers and other America-haters should be readily coopted to the opposition.