Felix.

Yes for me

I don't know the technical ins and outs, but i can imagine they will be very difficult to forge. DNA prints, fingerprints, iris mapping, complex unique codes on the card will show that the person carrying the card is the genuine article. Don't forget most criminals have kindly tatoo'd themselves and have numerous marks & scars unique to them. We have the ability now to fingerprint people at the scene and more than likely to DNA them in the future.

If it is made an arrestable offence for not carrying one - then we can target the burglars, twocers etc who rome the streets at night. They won't carry any ID as most of them will be wanted. So we will sweep the area clean. At the moment if they give false names on the street its very hard to disprove them - so people who are wanted can call themselves Joe Bloggs and just walk away free.

Brendan Hughes

I'd like to know precisely why they are intended - what they aim to do, and what they don't aim to do. Then I'll decide. Because all this crap about making the country safer seems to be really, really badly thought out.

OllyK

For those that haven't, read the link posted earlier: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/0...e_idcard_guide/

While I have "nothing to hide", based on this article and the fact that countries that already have ID cards still have the problems that Blunkett claims will be solved if we have one it seems like a massive waste of public cash to me that will solve very little.

To those who think these things will be hard to forge, think again. I'd put money on it that if they do come in to place you will be able to buy forgeries before the genuine ones hit the streets.

Leslie

Just like the reasons given to Parliament and the country for attacking Iraq, ID cards will do nothing to stop illegal immigration or any other kind of criminal activity. There is of course, as UB would say, a hidden agenda! We just don't need them anyway, there is enough ID available from the other items we have.

Knowledge is power and the authorities would have a tremendous fillip from being able to look us all up on a computer, shouldd they ever get such a system to work for them for once, and I for one am not inclined to trust any politician with that amount of instant information on me and my life. Even though I have nothing to hide either. This lot and the Eu bunch want to have absolute control over us all and this goes a long way towards that.

I quite honestly feel that we are being set up for repressive government in future times. If that does not worry you think about your descendants.

Not only that, at an estimated cost of £35 for the card or £85 with a passport, I reckon it will be the best stealth tax they have thought up yet.

Les

popeye

You're going to end up with a string of convictions as long as your arm at this rate.

David Lock

Could they do one for foxes?

ajm

That's what happens when you make daft laws to criminalise decent people. Being locked up with like minded car enthusiasts, hunters and ID card haters won't be so bad, and by the time we have been "rehabilitated" we will be trained up career burglars/drug dealers where the chances of getting caught are MUCH lower than doing horrific crimes such as speeding, hunting or not carrying a Blunkett card. Sweet.

hawkthescoobslayer

true too true

Clarebabes

This is what gets me angry, it's the cost. Is there going to be any leeway with regards to people on lower incomes? OK, so I can afford it, but with old people only "getting by" on a pension, this will be a huge burden for them.

As with speeding, you'll find little old ladies being criminalised because they can't pay.

RayC

My view is the law abiding citizens will comply, pay for it out of taxes and pockets, the government will over spend by millions, it will be late and do nothing to stop immigration or crime as the people who commit the crimes will either find a loop hole or get fake i.d cards and a new business in providing stolen i.d will become big business

they need to tackle immigration head on and stop handing out benifits without more stingent checks, and they need to get tough on crime.

Thats my veiw and it doesnt seem overly difficult to me.

ChrisB

Spot on Buck. Somebody like EDS will win bidding for the project, completely screw it up like every other Government project they work on and it'll be five years plus six times over budget. At which point, the whole thing is binned.

speedking

Surely the scheme must be self-funding. Reduction in terrorism saves more money than the scheme costs. If not then it should not even be considered.

I have nothing to hide, but can't see any personal benefits. LOL @ ITV last night. "Everyday activities like opening a bank account will become much easier". Who TF opens a bank account every day!

I can see me being stopped, and because I put on the wrong jacket and have no card on me, being grossly inconvenienced. Or driving to the other end of the country and not being allowed to check into a hotel because production of the ID card is a condition of staying there.

I suggest a 2 part passport, like the new driving licence. A plastic card that also acts as ID, and a paper book that you take when you go abroad. The system is proven and most of the infrastructure is already in place.

gsm1

Again, for me it really depends on what data they contain. Unless you use DNA, fingerprint or optic recognition etc. it's not going to make any difference except possibly make it even easier for fraudsters.

I was never against ID cards but I'm now more concerned knowing that we have a compulsive liar and a control freak sitting in 10 Downing St.

As for the cost, as above, I don't have much faith in the estimates presented by the government. Millenium Dome, British Library, NHS Computer system, Scottish Parliament...on and on, so many projects by the govt end up costing a fortune.

Felix.

Do you think the police are going to target little old ladies etc...?????


It will be used to target the criminal

OllyK

...just like we invaded Iraq because of WMD!

ajm

Yeah right! Speeding is an easier and more lucrative target than burglars. What makes asking a forgetful old lady to produce her ID any different? It will be easy money!

Freak

Just like they do now you mean....... oooooooooooook

You can bet your *** some little old lady wont be able to pick up her pension when she has lost her id card or had it stolen.
Meanwhile the fake ones bought for a couple of hundred quid will allow 'criminals' to go about their business at will.... just as they do now.
Will change nothing and incovenience many for not a lot of result.

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

ID Cards dont work. Simple. Just take a look at countries similar to ours who have adopted ID cards.

Also an infringment of ones liberty. Having to wear a Dog tag/collar whilst out and about. Stupid idea.

Bob

CrisPDuk

Just read this thread for the first time, and I am amazed that not one person has realised what is in my view the first obvious amendment Blindgit will make to the law, once its been forced through by parliament act.

Amendment I: There will be a fixed penalty of £** levied on any person not able to produce an ID card when requested to do so by an Officer of the Law, Government/Council representative, nosey ****** on the street, etc, etc!

Mark my words, if the labour party wins the next general election, it will be the last 'free' elections this country will have for the foreseeable future

Felix.

Speeding is caught by cameras - which don't discriminate. People stopped on the street by police is a totally different matter.

The people that this will effect are the local targets. If you have nothing to hide - why worry.

The reality is that the person will be brought into custody and will have a chance to say where their ID is - if it is at home it can be checked and the person released. There will also be other methods at the police station to check their identity (these may also be carried in the police cars themselves). Burglar Bill who can't produce anything will be locked up and taken off the streets.

Whats wrong with that then..!!

ajm

Inferred in my post above with regard to stopping old ladies being lucrative!

Brendan Hughes

Your logic. Why won't Burglar Bill have an ID card? He'll be entitled to one, as a UK citizen, surely? And he'll produce it, and you let him go.

And how will it identify him as a burglar, ie a suspect? It'll identify him as Bill Smith of 22 Acacia Avenue. How will it help, any more than a driving licence, to prove he was in the wrong place at the wrong time?

gsm1

Cos it will be detailed under 'Profession' on the card, obviously.

Freak

exactly
he will have bought a fake one- which ill bet will be perfect and passable, or is in fact someone elses stolen one with a doctored photo.
But that only happens in the movies -
If he is caught red handed commiting a burglary he is busted -simple as.

Caught in the vicinity? He produces his real card if he is a uk citizen and not an escaped convict and then walks free, unless as existing law stands they have evidence/motive/whatever to arrest and prove in court.

If he is an escaped convict or al quaeda, he produces his fake/doctored one and walks free.
It doesnt actually change anything!
If everyone has to carry one, then even burglars/rapists/muggers will do too! And there is not a chance in hell convicted criminals will have a 'special' card or a stamp on the front stating 'CONVICTED'- that will never happen in a month of sundays.

ajm

Because it's a fundemental violation of our liberty.

a) The police have no right to know who I am unless I am committing a crime.
b) the concept of being forced to carry around an identity card is disturbing. We should have the right to leave the house with nothing in our pockets if we so wish.
c) If they catch a burglar at it then they know he's a burglar. What difference does an ID card make? will it say "Burglar" on his card?

Jerome

I know of one little old lady who spent the night in a cell because a police sergeant "didn't like her attitude".

Edited to she that she is a retired school teacher in her sixties who had never even been inside a police station before that night.

Vegescoob

I am totally opposed to ID cards for the reason that this totally changes the relationship between us as subjects (remember in this country we are not citizens but subjects of the Queen. I would rather be a citizen but that's another thread) and the State. Historically, as others have said, I can travel this country with no identification if I so choose.
I may choose to carry items that assist me such as credit cards.
I would not object to having to have my driving licence with me and I do along with MOT and insurance certificate.
However now the State wants to remove from me my right to choose.
I thought this was a representative democracy. However take the subject of capital punishment. Polls show a majority in favour. Do our representatives enact this? No. So how much do the voters views count? No wonder voting numbers are falling.
Felix tells us it's ok the police will catch lots of criminals. Rot.
Twice as many NI nos. in existence as workers! Not long before same with ID cards.
I'm sick of useless politicians.

jk100

I don't mind having one, but what I would object to is an obligation to carry one at all times, Soviet Union style.

Vegescoob

That's the point. Make us have to carry one and these politicians can sit back rejoicing in the knowledge that they now can control us. It's totally frightening and goes to show how science fiction writers of the past were very perceptive.

johnskelley

I can see them working if they are unable to be forged and absolutely everyone must have one,no exceptions.
The benefits to us could be, that people would not be able to make multiple benefit claims.
Also I would like to see companies fined thousands of pounds if they employ someone without a card.
People who mention carrying driving licences and passports for id must remember we dont have to have a driving licence ,only if you drive. The same with a passport, only if you travel.
I would also like to know what information would be contained on this card and its security features before I made a final decision. I would be slightly worried if, it lets say contained details of your fingerprints or eye patterns because I wouldn't put it past some unscrupulous crook, or terrorist to cut someones hand off,or gauge an eye out to use the card. Its gotta be well thought through.