No shit, Sherlock
Via Tim, this article on ID theft.
As Tim so succinctly puts it,
Well, Tim, it's like this: the more that the politicians know about us, the better they can control us. This is why they want ID cards, for knowledge is, as the old adage goes, power. The other excuse for having them, that I have heard people trot out, is that the government will be better able to target services if they know who uses them. This neatly sidesteps the idea of ever having devolved schooling (i.e. a system of vouchers, as Sweden does, or of having a better healthcare system, based on private suppliers and individual choice.
Another issue here is, what about ex-Pats? Mr Worstall, for instance, lives in Portugal but maintains a property in Britain and—one assumes—his British status. Does he have to have an ID card? Will he be allowed to return to Britain if he doesn't have one? Or will he just be trailed by the police and shot in the face if he gets on and off a bus a couple of times and then decides to use the Tube? After all, he must have something of a tan by now (if only from the reflected heat from all those fires, which are obviously caused by global warming). Anyway, I digress.
A friend of mine, who wrote his Sociology PhD (what?) on ID cards, maintained that they were a unit of control in a more subtle way. He wrote that it may give the general populace the idea that the government was reconnecting with them, therefore giving the government legitimacy (and, incidentally, another term). It really pisses me off, the apathy that people, in general, show regarding ID cards. They witter on about us having driving licenses, etc. etc.
When I have explained to them exactly what the ID card, and the database behind them, entails, not one of them has supported the idea. Ignorance is no excuse, ladies and gentlemen; go, understand, feel the full horror of what the scheme involves, i.e. the government, and their employees (of whom there will be far fewer when I've finished with 'em) being able to access information on every, single aspect of your life. I reread 1984 almost every year and, of late, I have found it more and more terrifying.
You can call me paranoid if you like but, hell's teeth, this government have done more than any other to erode the civil liberties that so many of us have taken for granted for so long. It's time for the DK Party, methinks: look at those cuddly little bloggers; you'd elect us, wouldn't you...?
The introduction of identity cards will fail to solve the growing problem of identity theft and could lead to an increase in fraud, according to a new study.
Researchers have concluded that the shift from human vigilance to a reliance on new technologies is failing to prevent the activities of fraudsters and in some cases is providing them with new opportunities.
Emily Finch, a criminologist at the University of East Anglia, believes that criminals will find ways around the proposed security measures designed to ensure that those applying for identity cards are who they say they are.
As Tim so succinctly puts it,
So they won’t stop terrorism, illegal entry, asylum seekers, benefit fraud nor the latest excuse, identity theft. So remind me, just why are we having them?
Well, Tim, it's like this: the more that the politicians know about us, the better they can control us. This is why they want ID cards, for knowledge is, as the old adage goes, power. The other excuse for having them, that I have heard people trot out, is that the government will be better able to target services if they know who uses them. This neatly sidesteps the idea of ever having devolved schooling (i.e. a system of vouchers, as Sweden does, or of having a better healthcare system, based on private suppliers and individual choice.
Another issue here is, what about ex-Pats? Mr Worstall, for instance, lives in Portugal but maintains a property in Britain and—one assumes—his British status. Does he have to have an ID card? Will he be allowed to return to Britain if he doesn't have one? Or will he just be trailed by the police and shot in the face if he gets on and off a bus a couple of times and then decides to use the Tube? After all, he must have something of a tan by now (if only from the reflected heat from all those fires, which are obviously caused by global warming). Anyway, I digress.
A friend of mine, who wrote his Sociology PhD (what?) on ID cards, maintained that they were a unit of control in a more subtle way. He wrote that it may give the general populace the idea that the government was reconnecting with them, therefore giving the government legitimacy (and, incidentally, another term). It really pisses me off, the apathy that people, in general, show regarding ID cards. They witter on about us having driving licenses, etc. etc.
When I have explained to them exactly what the ID card, and the database behind them, entails, not one of them has supported the idea. Ignorance is no excuse, ladies and gentlemen; go, understand, feel the full horror of what the scheme involves, i.e. the government, and their employees (of whom there will be far fewer when I've finished with 'em) being able to access information on every, single aspect of your life. I reread 1984 almost every year and, of late, I have found it more and more terrifying.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever."
You can call me paranoid if you like but, hell's teeth, this government have done more than any other to erode the civil liberties that so many of us have taken for granted for so long. It's time for the DK Party, methinks: look at those cuddly little bloggers; you'd elect us, wouldn't you...?
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