I.D Cards.....

[NaRvIcK DeViL]

I’m starting to think that ID cards are a ruse. What they’re really after are everyone’s DNA and Biometric Details? Now that would make life easy for the institutions that rule us.

Don’t forget if the tools of Government succeed in implementing this draconian legislation there’s no going back, you won’t me able to put the genie back in the bottle and as British Subjects we will be the only democracy without a written Institution who will have them.

I really do get frustrated when I hear the media and the political elite refer to us as British Citizens, if that was true why does everyone in power pledge allegiance to how wonderful her majesty is ?and not to the nation and/or people like other democracies of the world .

While I’ve been typing this I just remembered how it benefits the ruling elite of not having a written constitution and having an open ended constitution as they call it.

The future king gets to marry his mistress but ‘woe be tide’ if the people on mass want to move the goalposts then it’s called taking on the Government

[thedailyflash]

they can be faked i bet

[Peter_Martin]

ID cards are a sop to give the impression that the Government is doing something. It is easier to blame the lack of ID cards for a bomb than to consider the nasty truth that there was a failure to pick up the planning of the outrage.

The whole problem with the proposal is that it overlooks the important following facts about all terrorism in the UK:

1. The terrorist is here legally because they are a nominally a subject of the country OR
2. They are legally registered as being able to live here indefinitely OR
3. They are here legally under short term entry permissions.

The following terrorist plots were organised by people whom fell into one or more of the categories above:

1. Gunpowder plot 1605.
2. Luddite agitations of the 19th century.
3. Various Irish Terrorist campaigns from 1800 to present.
4. Animal Rights campaigns.
5. Franchise extenson campaigns for manhood suffrage and votes for women.
6. Islamic extremism thus far within the UK.

Interestingly most of the activists/terrorists were actually subjects of the UK (or predecessor nations) and thus an ID card would not have proven anything OTHER THAN they were legally allowed to be here. A large part of a terrorist campaign is the intention to kill and cause fear - these factors are something that no ID could be programmed to judge.

Another problem with the ID card is that they are only as good as the thickest person being asked to check it. Therefore as long as one person would be convinced by a card; then the whole system is meaningless.

[Peter_Martin]

NaRvIcK DeViL on the British Citizen point you are quite correct. Nationals of a Republic are citizens. Nationals of monarchies and autocracies are supposed to be subjects. I do not know why we go for citizen when it is currently impossible until such time as we become the United Republic of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. My theory is that it is to make us feel more modern and somehow included in the grand scheme of things.

[NovaBritannia]

Originally Posted by NaRvIcK DeViL

I really do get frustrated when I hear the media and the political elite refer to us as British Citizens, if that was true why does everyone in power pledge allegiance to how wonderful her majesty is ?and not to the nation and/or people like other democracies of the world .

We're not particularly a democracy, we incorporate democratic elements into our system of government. And thank Christ that this is the case.

Anyway, it's all feudal relationships anyway. We pledge to serve the Queen, the Queen pledges to serve us, politicians pledge to help her in that.

Originally Posted by Peter_Martin

NaRvIcK DeViL on the British Citizen point you are quite correct. Nationals of a Republic are citizens. Nationals of monarchies and autocracies are supposed to be subjects. I do not know why we go for citizen when it is currently impossible until such time as we become the United Republic of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. My theory is that it is to make us feel more modern and somehow included in the grand scheme of things.

I don't see anything in the history, use or development of the term 'citizenship' which excludes its use in monarchical states...

[NaRvIcK DeViL]

We are now living in the type of society associated with totalitarian reg-imes

New powers to halt the march of the surveillance society will be proposed by the privacy watchdog today(1st May 2007).

Richard Thomas, who's the Information Commissioner, has demanded greater safeguards against the excessive intrusion by the state and business. He is to be the first witness at an inquiry by the Commons home affairs committee into the profusion of CCTV cameras and databases.

The UK has five million CCTV cameras and growing fast and already has one fifth of the world's total and the average British Subject will be monitored by 300 cameras a day.

Mr Thomas says public confidence in surveillance technology needs to be restored and he wants his Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to be given the power to carry out enforced inspections and audits to ensure data protection laws can not be breached.

Mr Thomas is now increasingly alarmed by the erosion of privacy and the extension of state surveillance. He warned yesterday of the risks of identity mistakes, security breaches and "unnecessary intrusion into people's lives and loss of personal autonomy''. ''There is a concern that too much surveillance has created a climate of fear and suspicion,"

"It is essential that, before even newer surveillance technologies are introduced, full consideration is given to the impact on individuals and that safeguards are in place to minimise intrusion."

One idea is the introduction of privacy impact assessments requiring organisations to set out how they will minimise the threat to privacy when they introduce new measures, such as a database. Similar assessments are now common in Canada , Australia , New Zealand and America.

" I do believe that we are now living in the type of society associated with totalitarian reg-imes, it is important that there is a vigorous debate around this issue - about where lines should be drawn and the restrictions and safeguards which are needed.'

''Balance is needed and there must be limits. No one wants their electronic footprint to expose every aspect of their daily life. Positive action is required to ensure the potential risks are not allowed to manifest themselves. Otherwise, the trust and confidence which individuals must have in all organisations that hold information about them will be placed in jeopardy."

Evidence to be submitted to the committee by the ICO today (1st May 2007) says advances in technology means that we 'all' now leave an electronic footprint behind.

Trying to find information on a computer, making a phone call, paying with a card, using 'joined up' government services or walking down a street where CCTV is in operation is all monitored.

[NaRvIcK DeViL]

ID card's Gold-Coloured contact plate is just for show !

Critics of the government's ID card project have long questioned its usefulness - but it has now emerged that one of the card's most eye-catching elements doesn't actually do anything.

ID cards issued in the UK currently carry a gold-coloured contact plate, similar to those found on credit cards with chip and PIN functionality.
These contact plates normally allow card readers to connect to the chip inside the card, in order to carry out an electronic transaction such as authorising a payment.
But the contact plate on current ID cards cannot be used to carry out any sort of electronic transaction: the chip inside the card doesn't contain the information necessary to connect to a card reader via the plate.

Instead, the chips must be read wirelessly through RFID - meaning the contact plate is essentially redundant.

Dave Birch, director of electronic transaction company Consult Hyperion, revealed: "The ID cards issued in the UK have a contact plate on them, but it is only for show, since there are no services accessible through the contact interface."
"Surely it would have saved a lot of money to have just printed a picture of a shiny gold contact plate on the back of the card somewhere," .

It is thought the decision to use the dummy plate was taken for design reasons. By using a dummy plate, the card won't have to be redesigned should a functioning plate be added at a later date.
Similarly, by using a dummy plate in the current generation of ID cards, the manufacturing process won't have to be altered if a functioning plate is subsequently included on the card. If the next generation of cards saw the addition of the contact plate for the first time however, the manufacturing process would have to be retooled - for example, increasing the thickness of the card to accommodate the plate.
A Home Office spokesman said: "The contact plate is present to maintain continuity of design with similar products now, or in the future, that make use of a contact plate."
More than 7,000 ID cards have been issued to British public since the UK cards were made available last year starting in Manchester ,before rolling out across the North West and to select groups across the UK. ID cards have also been issued to foreign nationals living in Britain since November 2008.

The chip inside British and foreign national ID cards, which contains the cardholder's biographic and biometric details, is accessed via specialised RFID readers.These readers are being used at UK borders to verify the identity of cardholders. The readers were not, however, rolled out to UK border guards until October 2009, almost a year after the cards were first introduced for foreign nationals.

The design of the ID card for British nationals has also been criticised by the financial services industry for offering few features and limiting the uses that the card could be put to.

Last month it was revealed that the government was considering releasing an upgraded ID card in 2012 with a raft of new features, including authorising online transactions using chip and PIN and verifying the cardholder's identity over the internet.