This is one menial example of many. They already read your number plates and scan your windscreen for a tax disc... I assumed they kept every image already. Even a police car driving down the road can scan the plates and tax disc of oncoming cars. They're on the case 100% of the time. You literally cant go anywhere without a camera watching you in the UK. Every road into and out of the major cities are covered, every square inch of london and no doubt other cities too. I drove for 10 secs in a bus lane in a city i'd never been to before and got nailed by the police. Yeah, it makes us angry. We just get the choice of which thieving group of politicians we want to dictate our lives. The biometric ID cards are on offer in Manchester now too. That's a hot debate. I'll be the last to own one! Its already being done for foreign nationals. They say it will just hold name, address, place of birth and biometrics (retina scan, fingerprints, DNA?) but from that you can find national insurance number, place of work, tax details..... basically everything there is to know. But it will help stop undercover terrorists blowing us up! Bahh Hollocks. Hopefully a central police database will scuttle them. They tried to do it with the NHS. After spending £20billion on the system they stopped development. Lets all pray the police system will be the same.
It could very well be a citizen x type cop-out but no, it does not bother me.... I am probably burying my little head in the sand.... but it fails to alarm me. I am not sure what the fuss is all about. I am not very worried about the biometric ID's although I will not be in a hurry to get one. I come from a country where ID's are compulsory from the age of 16. I fail to see the issue here. Again this is not an argument just how things sit with me. A true herd animal....
Do you consider the IDs worth while, in Israel I mean? Is the ID to be carried around at all times? What I dont really understand is how they can be useful if you dont have to carry it around all the time. What can my biometric ID tell you that my biometric passport cant? If ask to present the ID it would be no different to go home and pick up my passport instead. Why not make passports the ID, thats what ive used as ID all my life. I suppose then one can argue "Why are you happy to own a passport and not an ID card?"
How else can you tell if someone is who he/she claims to be? Yes according to the law, they should be carried on one's person although it is generally understood that if you have not got pockets it will be hard to.... it is only the size of a credit card... Most Israelis remember their ID off by heart so their details can be checked on the spot. It is still the favourable form of identifying a person, as opposed to the UK where a utility bill will suffice (or two...). Why not indeed. I think it is much better to combine the two. However, you would not want to carry your passport around. Unless it is much smaller or, like in Israel, you can memorise your ID number... giving a suspect a chance to go home to grab his passport? I can see some issues here... Bio is another step to solve counter-fitting as far as I can see. I do not tend to be so paranoid as to think that someone will use the Bio ID to profile me.... but hey, who knows? I generally support ID and I am not fussed in which way, as long as I do not have to tattoo it on my arm or my butt. All it holds is your name, ID number and date of birth. The ID shows very quickly who you are and that you are a citizen/resident of the country so by default, if you cannot produce it (apart from dog-ate-it or my-mum-shredded-it) then you either a tourist of some description (therefore should be carrying a passport) or there is something iffy about you... Perhaps naively, I trust the data protection watchdog to make sure that BIO ID's do not carry information which is irrelevant or that my number plate is not used in a divorce case when my wife finds out that I parked outside that porn shop....:x: I tend to see the more positive aspect of big brother where I can be let off a murder trial as my face is seen clearly on a CCTV 300 miles away from the crime scene. I agree that there are more sinister sides to this coin.... Anyway, we can continue but I think we may have to move this thread to the General Chat area.... Update: I have to say that things have changed since I posted this. Mainly due to watching this - http://www.channel4.com/programmes/taking-liberties/4od#2928978 I am quite embarrassed with what I wrote before so I left it to remind myself how up my arse my head was really planted. If you live in the UK I strongly recommend watching this. A real eye opener. If you can watch it from other countries... please do! I am hardly running out to join a demonstration but it did make think a lot harder about privacy and liberties... I cannot see, how I can take them for granted going forward....
