ID Cards

Ohh you can bet they will guarantee that whatever system they cobble together it will be fool proof.
But it will be cheap for them, and expensive for us.

 

And looking at some of the things they've brought in -not foolproof either. Think of the child benefit agency, family credits, in the recent past.

Name, date of birth and photo is all that is required.With a security thingy like they have on banknotes, passports and credit cards.

To check biometric details is not something that can be done outside a lab or the like. Fingerprints, DNA and Iris check - needs to have a sample/photo taken and checked against a database. Hardly likely to be done unless you are stopped on suspicion - and then they can take the samples anyway - without an ID card.

Currently if you have fingerprints or dna taken in the course of an investigation, it is destroyed and not retained.

The government already has my name and date of birth - a photo is no big deal But I am not paying for it whatever - and I am agin any other data being held on it. Anyone thought of Identity theft

 

Fingerprints are kept and not destroyed if the person in question is convicted as i have just asked my o/h and he should know as he is a police officer..
if their were a huge data base of peoples dna ..fingerprints ..iris ..etc etc then if dna was left at the scene of crime then the culprits could soon be named and found faster..As most of the crimes are commited by reoffenders..
as for peadophiles well i do think people should recieve a warning letter to say that their are some in their area and to be aware and to take precautions..and its not allways easy to educate your children when they are snatched out of gardens ..baths ..beds etc..and they are less than 5 years old..
I certainly have nothing to hide and i dont mind id their are too many suspicious people around now..And the general public wont grass them up..even if they have commited dreadfull crimes..
And yes we will have to pay for it one way or another if you dont pay out of your purse they will find a way of raising tax to pay for it that way..I dont like the labour government at all but people keep voting them in..so they must pay for it...Those that vote for labour shouldnt be complaining ..

[ 26. November 2006, 05:41 AM: Message edited by: wildflower ]

 

well said wildflower, my father was a policeman then a county court bailiff, I can always remember him saying things have got worse over the years as when we were children we left our doors open, my father never locked his car, now this day and age we just wouldnt dare.
I would certainly grass on someone that had done an evil deed.

 

I think in the very near future we will all have our DNA, fingerprints, and irises scanned at birth, and all this information will be available throughout our lives via a population database.
I also think that the information, and use of it, will not be tamper-proof.
I don't know if I agree or not, but as it can be done it probably will be.

 

I see the ID card containing all such information and being like a plastic smart card that would also act as our passport and driving license. Just one card.

If it stops anyone pretending to be me - then I'm for it. It won't stop all crime and no one is claiming that it will. If it stops benefit fraud, illegal immigration, fake driving tests and other forms of identity theft then it's worth it. At present, it is so easy to get a driving licence and then use that to get a passport. Biomeric information encoded on an ID card is the only way forward. It should also stop paedophiles getting jobs in schools - remember Soham?

We can no longer rely on the police and other officials doing maunual checks. A smart card that is essential to own in order to access cash, travel points, benefits etc etc will go a long way to making life impossible for people who want to be other than who they realy are.

But all of that requires massive investment and card readers everywhere. I'll not see it in my lifetime

 

Sorry Hornbeam but I dont want to see card readers everywhere.
And it wont work until the whole world population is registered, and we all know that will never happen.

 

Think back 10 years and see how much miniaturisation etc has advanced- I think you'll still be around!
When I was at college Sir Bernard Lovell [then head of Jodrell Bank telescope] was of the opinion that computers would never be very much use, as one that could work out the finances of a small company would be as big as a skyscraper. The first computer I worked on needed to be booted up by typing in actual binary coding. I remember it being replaced by a roomful of very large boxes with 8k storage- we were all very much in awe!

 

OK suppose everyone has an ID card that has fingerprints, and DNA on it - and that that card is not fraudulent, with someone else's fingerprints or DNA on it.

Now the airline desk wants to check the ID of someone beyond the photograph that is. They are going to have to take a physical finger print, or sample of DNA to ensure that the person is as ID card. Totally impractical. .

Sorry but if the Government wants to identify the whole population on a central database, it should do so by proposing that there be a DNA register, or fingerprint register of everyone. Not trying to piggy back such a thing by stealth with a proposal for an ID card.

Then of course there are the 0000s of people who are not registered UK citizens.

ID cards just need mimimum information to act as a quick check. Photo, name, and date of birth thats it. If that was what was proposed, then fine, bearing in mind that the theft of same allows identity fraud, and as long as I don't have to pay for it, other than in general taxation. Anything else forget it.

HB Sohem was not about failing to identify someone, it was about a police check, not picking up another force had information on an individual. A systems failure, that would not have been prevented with an ID card.

Sorry for me - it a no no. As stated before, I trust this government about as far as I can throw them.

 

Stick a micro chip in everyone!My dog has one. Its the size of a grain of rice and it emits a unique number. That number then has all the necessary information. No doubt at to which dog it is. Darn sight cheaper an all.

 

How about iris scans instead. No mor PIN numbers to remember or cards to lose or fake. You want cash? So you go to the hole in the wall and instead of tapping in your PIN - you stare into a gizzmo that recognises your iris pattern. Ditto for going through airport security, ditto for taking a driving test, getting a job, registering for benefit. No eye scan - no can do anything. Illegals will be unable to live undetected. Criminals will have to transplant eyes to cheat!

 

Hi LOL, I've been away for 10 days enjoying the delights of San Sebastian ...and just loking through a few things I spotted this... I was interested in your post as you are in the same situation as myself, just in a different part of continental Europe .....we are now in our 14th year of living here and for the first 10 we had an ID card, Carte de Sejour, which was a permit to live, with photograph, dob, nationality. This was valid for 5 years and we paid the equivalent of about �£40 (from memory) ...the second 5 year card was then issued free of charge. Now, as a citizen of the CEE (being a British national) we are no longer required to have these,(unless one is in employment in France). My form of ID therefore now is my French Driving licence, with much the same detail as the old Carte de Sejour. We still have British passports, issued in Paris, but they stay in the safe and are only needed IF and when we visit the UK (unless going out of Europe of course) ... It looks like the ID card is optional in mainland European countries....interesting ....

....with regard to the UK proposals for an ID card there does seem to be an over excess of information required .... I am afraid I am rather cynical of late and think that Mr. Blair is, once again, intent on 'The American Way'
M-L


M-L

[ 27. November 2006, 12:58 PM: Message edited by: Mona Lisa ]

 

I'm against ID cards. The criminal world will be able to come up with fake ID's whatever system is used - nothing is foolproof - even finger prints and iris scans.
Mr Blair doesn't have to introduce ID cards - the government and all the big companies/ institutions have all the info on us already - and it VERY scary what they have on us.......
The loyalty point cards, cash cards, online forums - every point of our lives is recorded.

 

The difference being, Rosa, that we can choose whether or not to drive a vehicle. I didn't choose to be a UK citizen..my parents were responsible for that.
I wonder what the government would do, in the event that this proposal materialises, if the majority of people in this country refused to fork out for the card. I don't object to having one of these things but, because various governments have over the years failed to get to grips with the problems of increased crime, illegal immigration etc., I DO object to being made to pay for it.

 

I like Geoff's idea of microchipping - identifier could be your NI number (already held by Gvt) - less able to be nicked. Could be done by an individual's GP. As the NI number is unique - duplicates (i.e. from stolen identities) could be readily checked by software, and investigated.

More I think of it the better I like it. Passports, driving licences would continue, but security/police would have an instant check.

Twould also stop the government trying to piggy back a whole lot of other data that they would like to have for other purposes.