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Liverpool Indymedia

Say no to ID cards! - submit objections to public consultation by 20th July

maria ng | 07.05.2004 23:21 | Repression | Technology | Liverpool

Details of how to contribute to the public consultation on ID cards & some good links on the issues

How to submit your views on ID cards to the government: Consultation input should be sent to Robin Woodland, Legislation Consultant, Identity Cards Programme, Home Office, 3rd Floor, Allington Towers, 19 Allington Street, London SW1E 5EB. They can be faxed to +44 (0)20 7035 5386 or emailed to  identitycards@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk, with 'consultation response' in the subject line. DEADLINE: 20th July 2004

The government is claiming that there is public support for ID cards and Blair has even stated that "there is no longer a civil liberties objection" to ID cards!!?? However the Home Office misrepresented the results of a previous consultation by counting 5,000 individual responses from members of the public, which were submitted via the STAND website, as just one vote! (STAND are the voluntary organisation behind www.faxyourmp.com)
see  http://www.stand.org.uk/#2003-05-31

Here's a couple of pieces that are well worth a read, can't recommend them enough - they both cover in-depth the (im)practical implications of the implementation & use of ID cards, and the overall conclusion to draw from them is that the government hasn't really thought it through properly. As the first article concludes, the proposals are Blunkett's "magic bullet" to solve his immigration headaches.

The Register: Everything you never wanted to know about the UK ID card
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/05/complete_idcard_guide/
QUOTE:"So the government reps telling you there's not much in the database and there's a commissioner to mind it, so that's OK, are being really thick, in a 'don't know much about databases' sort of way. They are, without, clearly grasping it, proposing the ID Register as the focus around which an ever-increasing number of personal information databases revolve. They've set themselves a non-trivial task in keeping all of the specified information in the Register accurate and up to date, and the freeform nature of "information relating to an application or entry" will be a particular problem, because it should really be in another kind of database. Indeed, the amount of immigration-related data in the Register makes it look more like an immigration database than a general population register."

UNCORRECTED TRANSCRIPT OF ORAL EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO IDENTITY CARDS Tuesday 24 February 2004
 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmhaff/uc130-iv/uc13002.htm
(This is the evidence of experts in issues of technology & security - but it is a very accessible read)
QUOTE:"Professor [Martyn] Thomas [UK Computing Research Committee]: There is a fundamental issue here which I think will come up a number of times, and that is that the government has identified a number of application areas of the card but nothing that I have been able to find identifies why the ID card as proposed is a solution to any particular problems in those application areas. Until that is done most of the questions you ask in this area do not have an answer because you are not asking the right people. You need to be asking the Home Office."

Another useful link is White Rose: "a protest blog collective focusing on civil liberties in the UK and the rest of world" -  http://whiterose.samizdata.net/

Also the STAND site: www.stand.org.uk - and Privacy International(who are holding a public event on ID cards on 19th May :  http://www.privacyinternational.org/

Can anyone recommend any good solid practical arguments (or links to the same) with which to respond to the apathetic "if you've done nothing wrong you've nothing to worry about" attitude? i.e. you can say rather abstractly that civil liberties are A Good Thing, and unregulated state power is Bad but how can you demonstrate Why? (People seem to think you have a point if you emphasis the sheer cost & technological wishful-thinking of the whole undertaking, but think you're a bit nuts if you're opposed to ID cards on principle.) Ta.

maria ng

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

some practical things

08.05.2004 08:49

something that worked for me recently with the "if you've done nothing wrong" comment, was asking "so do you think everyone whose ever been imprisoned or punished for any crime is guilty?" and also pointing out the practical realities of carrying these cards, the cost of getting another one if you lose your card or its stolen etc. gets to people as well (not the most political argument in the world but hey), especially as the fine seems so high. Also useful, is pointing out the disproportionate effect on young people of the introduction of these cards, eg. loads of young people get stopped and searched just for being out at night or the 'wrong' colour, lost your card in the club? do you want your child coming home with a huge fine, for having the audacity to walk down the road?

heather


Useful comments could be..

08.05.2004 11:24

If anyone gives you the old 'nothing to hide' line then quote them your NI number if you know it off hand. Give em you bank account no (so they can credit your account) and show them your beautiful smiling face on your passport. Then say all this info is in the public domain about me.

FUCK iris scans etc that's control, NOT identification.

Show Off


Some arguments against ID Cards (What have you got to hide?)

08.05.2004 19:03

Some arguments against ID Cards (What have you got to hide?):

 Do you think it would be acceptable to have CCTV cameras on public footpaths in the countryside? on the beach? in your back garden? in your house? - No? Why not? Have you got something to hide! Of course you haven’t – you just don’t want the authorities peering at you all the time. You value your freedom and privacy

 Should curtains be forbidden so that the police can look into your house to check you’re not doing something wrong? NO? Why not ? Have you got something to hide! Of course you haven’t – you just don’t want people peering at you all the time. You value your freedom and your privacy. People draw their curtains at night, not because they ‘have something to hide’, but because they don’t want to be peered at. They merely want to preserve their privacy.

 The authorities already have all the information they need on us. We’re quite happy to show our passports, our driving licenses our National Insurance nos. WHY do they need us to have ID cards as well?

 The natural state is for people to be free. If anybody – or the State – wants to remove any of our freedoms (including the freedom to go out of your house without an ID card – the freedom to go shopping, go to the beach, walk in the hills, sail on boats, visit your friends without an ID card) - THEY have to convince YOU that it is necessary. Its for NOT for YOU to convince them why they shouldn’t take away your freedom. LET THEM JUSTIFY IT TO YOU.

 Identity cards are compulsory in Spain, France and Germany. However, they haven't stopped terrorist attacks in these countries (including the recent terrible Madrid train bombings) or stopped very high levels of illegal immigration into both countries.

 ID cards will not provide any benefits to the public - they will be just another tool by which the State can exercise further control over ordinary people.

 ID cards will mean that any policeman, at any time, could stop you in the street and demand to see all your personal information at a glance. Why should you have to tolerate this.

 ID cards will be used by the police to harass people from minority cultures, young people, demonstrators, trade unionists and any other group that the State wants to control.

I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE, BUT I DON’T TRUST THE STATE

Zak


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