I think its a good idea.

Balls to ID cards. Didn't do anything to stop the Spanish atrocities, did they? Just an excuse for the government to get more information over it's electorate.

And Blunkett is an authoritatian scumsack who can't fall down an open manhole soon enough for my liking.

Well, I have to say i'm not terribly fussed about them either way myself. In fact, i'd lean towards saying i'd like to have a real overall form of ID.

The information the card will have (finger print, iris scan, name, address, etc) is the sort of information that a) the government already has or b) can either incriminate you if you are guilty of something or clear you if you are innocent. DNA and fingerprints have cleared thousands of people that have been accused of crimes or have been suspects in investigations and having the information readily available on a national system would make being cleared (or identified as guilty) nice and easy.

Nobody who is innocent should have anything to hide.

It will also be very convenient. Eventually they plan to use the ID Card as passport, drivers license, etc. Anybody who has a ton of plastic cards in their wallet will be glad not to have a few less.

I don't realistically think the government would do anything like sell the biometric data that the card will store, if they did that, they'd get slaughtered and what every government wants is to be re-elected.

So, all in all... doesn't bother me much

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by KaTiEStar
I think its a good idea.

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Ditto to that

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by Maffrew
Nobody who is innocent should have anything to hide.

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And who decicides who's "innocent" and "guilty"?

The government, that's who.

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by Maffrew
Well, I have to say i'm not terribly fussed about them either way myself. In fact, i'd lean towards saying i'd like to have a real overall form of ID.

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Many people are still in limbo over proper ID if you don't happen to drive or don't have a passport. The only thing I don't agree with is the current £70 fee on it - if the card were to be complusory it should be issued free of charge rather than using it as a way to con more money our of the tax-payers.

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Nobody who is innocent should have anything to hide.

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I agree with this. It would narrow down suspects for sure. Although the only problem would be in the evidence issue - as long as officials don't automatically find hair strands at a scene and jump to conclusions and bring back death penalties for things, as I guess you can plant most forms of identifying traits at a crime scene still.

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Anybody who has a ton of plastic cards in their wallet will be glad not to have a few less.

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That will only happen if all the clubcard schemes band together

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by Samphirette
I agree with this. It would narrow down suspects for sure. Although the only problem would be in the evidence issue - as long as officials don't automatically find hair strands at a scene and jump to conclusions and bring back death penalties for things, as I guess you can plant most forms of identifying traits at a crime scene still.

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Definitely. I think if the ID Card goes forward then the Police system and legal system generally should be fortified to make sure that the possibility of the ID Card being misused to a minimum. If system is run properly, info from the ID card shouldn't be available to be planted and if it *is* planted the legal system should work well enough to counter it.

If these issues can't be resolved satisfactorily, then i would say the ID card should be suspended until they can, or that a major effort should be made to fix the holes.

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by Funky Monkey
Is this a neccesary step for the control of terrorism and fraud, or a major treading on people's civil liberties?

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Well the 9/11 hijackers travelled on official documents, most terroist caught are using real documents so the terrorism one is a non starter.

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by Maffrew
I don't realistically think the government would do anything like sell the biometric data that the card will store, if they did that, they'd get slaughtered and what every government wants is to be re-elected

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Well Electoral rolls used to get sold, from what ive read the ID card scheme may be run by a third party company, so it might not be the goverment who's looking after your data.

If it is going to be used to replace other identitys then you are going to have a hell of a lot of people with access to your data from police officers to various civil servants and whilst 99.9 % are honest there will always be some individuals who will missuse the information.

The charge is obscene (and i bet you have to renew it for a charge every 10 years or so), if I want to drive or travel I pay for the correct documents, So if I want to be alive I have to pay. Its a tax on being alive.

Maybe those Science Fiction authors werent wrong about the future as everyday we seem to be taking a step towards a Police state.

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by Sange
Ditto to that

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And another ditto from me.

Could I trouble you all with a "why"?

I'm not bothered, do we have to pay for them (and I mean not by taxes, like generally out of our pockets)? I paid for ID so I could by cigarettes etc so I think it would be good to have them. Someone tell me the bad points as to why we shouldn't have them...

For one thing it will be cumpulsory, proof of age ID is your choice. Another is that it'll give the government your biometric data (iris scans, DNA profiling, fingerprints) which is open for all sorts of abuse. And not just 1984 style abuse: the government was recent caught trying to sell personal details onto third parties for business reasons. If civil liberties mean nothing to you, a ton of junk mail, spam and telesales will!

If also sets up the apparatus for a police state should Labour or the Tories decide to make it cumpulsory to carry the cards. "I've nothing to hide" doesn't mean a whole lot if your idea of "nothing to hide" differs from the government's!

I dont really need to say why as others have already said it.

Id like to be able to prove who i am and to prove who others are.

Surely if it was used as a passport it would stop being ilegaly leaing the country (or alot anyone) with fake passports.

It could store medical records on it on anything so if you're rushed to hospital the doctors could help fasters.

Theres loads of things it would be good for.

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by Teresa
(quotes)

And another ditto from me.

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And another from me too

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by Samphirette
I agree with this. It would narrow down suspects for sure. Although the only problem would be in the evidence issue - as long as officials don't automatically find hair strands at a scene and jump to conclusions and bring back death penalties for things, as I guess you can plant most forms of identifying traits at a crime scene still.

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Well the card will at max contain a snippet of your DNA (the parts used for forensic evidance) not the whole things (Have you got any idea how much data was collected in the human genome project we would wish that would fit on such a small chip) so not really much value to your insurance company etc . Also at crime scene you don't leave "iris" prints all over the place (no not even if you get your eye smashed into a flat surface and by all means that would most likely mean you where the victim )

Fingerprints.... well those are duplicable with enough time and effort but if someone wanted to go all that way to get the info they could have gotten it from your glass at the pub too

From a 10 year old photo on your traveldocs it's in most cases fairly impossible to make a 99% certain positive id on some people (especially if you allow religious head "clothing" in pictures).

But with an iris scan you can make a pretty positive idea on someone (and they are a pain to fake ) as the machines register if there is bloody flowing through the vains so won't work on a "dead" eye.

Also think about it wouldn't it be nice that if someone is on "holiday" in the UK and commits a crime and leaves figure prints / dna etc around that the UK government actually has records of those so they can make a positive match. Which otherwise they wouldn't been able to as you can't cross referance that info form the crime scene if you have nothing to match it with.

So if everyone has to put their card into a machine at the passport check get an iris scan done in the meantime the other biometric data is downloaded and stored for 3 months after that person leaves the country again....

I think a lot of people would like those "foreigners" to have such a card Guess what the rest of the world thinks the same of you (especially America) so no wonder it has to be put into passports etc.

For having it on ID cards and making those mandatory.... Good idea saves a lot of hassle in identifying people and if it helps solve any crimes on the side too...... why not

Also I thought it would cost approx 35 quid not 70 (atleast thats what they said on bbc 24)

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by Maffrew
Well, I have to say i'm not terribly fussed about them either way myself. In fact, i'd lean towards saying i'd like to have a real overall form of ID.

The information the card will have (finger print, iris scan, name, address, etc) is the sort of information that a) the government already has or b) can either incriminate you if you are guilty of something or clear you if you are innocent. DNA and fingerprints have cleared thousands of people that have been accused of crimes or have been suspects in investigations and having the information readily available on a national system would make being cleared (or identified as guilty) nice and easy.

Nobody who is innocent should have anything to hide.

It will also be very convenient. Eventually they plan to use the ID Card as passport, drivers license, etc. Anybody who has a ton of plastic cards in their wallet will be glad not to have a few less.

I don't realistically think the government would do anything like sell the biometric data that the card will store, if they did that, they'd get slaughtered and what every government wants is to be re-elected.

So, all in all... doesn't bother me much

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Ditto. There's no point in me saying "why" cos Maffrew has said it all.

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by Chambler
(quotes)
Also I thought it would cost approx 35 quid not 70 (atleast thats what they said on bbc 24)

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1 quid is too expensive IMO

Why is there going to be a charge for them if they arer compulsory? As i dittoed earlier, i'm quite keen on them, but not on having a charge for them. not every can afford to dish out £35 for something like that.

There's capitalism for you: steal your freedoms and charge you for the privilidge.