badgers

I posted this in the UK politics group, but i want to reach people that aren't necessarily into that sort of thing, so here it is in my blog:


I found this thread about ID cards, but not much else when i did a search for relevant topics. This probably only demonstrates my inadequacy in using boolean search tools.

I'd like to broaden the discussion though, as ID cards are really just a facet of this apparent shift in governmental policy towards monitoring and intervention since 9/11. Arguably, they have it worse over in the US with the Patriot Act and whatnot, but there's little we can do about those poor buggers, even though their old President Ben Franklin was one of the first to argue for individual liberty over the welfare of the state: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

ID cards scare the crap out of me, partly due to the shocking track record of government IT projects, and partly due to the attitude of many in government that the cards will be "part of the fabric of British life", from which it can be inferred that you'll need to use your ID card for pretty much everything from going to visit your GP, collecting benefits, getting employed, getting a bus, or being stopped in the street.

Add to this the fact that the government seems hell-bent on biometrics, from biometric adult passports and interrogation centres, to fingerprinting our citizens the moment they get to school, which lots of people aren't keen on.

If you're an adult, and your passport is near to renewal - renew it now, and you might just avoid having your identity controlled for ever.

And why fingerprints? We already know that fingerprints are fallible; they do change slightly over time, they can be worn away, and they can even be faked.
But, we leave them everywhere we go (apart from kids - they don't, apparently). So for a government that wants to track everyone, fingerprints are the way to go. If it was all about identity confirmation, we'd be using iris scans, or something similar. I don't often leave an imprint of my iris on something i touch, but you can check who i am by looking at it, as long as the initial identification was correct.
Of course, the govmt don't seem to keen on the public getting a look at ID scheme reviews. Or anything else, for that matter. Oh, but they're not the public any more, they're customers, and ID cards are a product. I don't think my identity should be a commodity, especially not one that can be so easily stolen.

ID cards aren't everything though, there's also road pricing, and the data from those cameras being given to police "for all crime fighting purposes".

The new PM seems to be pretty keen on all this data sharing business, including your medical records and information; and looking forward to "making full use of DNA"...
Oh, we are already trying to, but not very well.

I'm sure we've all heard the arguments in favour of data sharing, surveillance, and identity cards, of which the biggest, loudest and most difficult to counter is "If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't worry". Of course, it's easy to counter with "Do you have curtains?", or "If you have nothing to hide, then you don't have a life.", but you're then accepting that the thing you're hiding as an illegal, embarrassing, or damaging thing.

Rather, "part of what makes a society a good place in which to live is the extent to which it allows people freedom from the intrusiveness of others. A society without privacy protection would be suffocating, and it might not be a place in which most would want to live. When protecting individual rights, we as a society decide to hold back in order to receive the benefits of creating the kinds of free zones for individuals to flourish." (Solove, Daniel J. "I'VE GOT NOTHING TO HIDE" AND OTHER MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF PRIVACY, George Washington University Law School, p15, 2007)

Luckily, more and more people are getting concerned about civil liberties, and even making films about it..

I always like to end with a quote or two, so here goes:

"Privacy is not something that I'm merely entitled to, it's an absolute prerequisite." - Marlon Brando

"Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men." - Ayn Rand (Russian born American Writer and Novelist, 1905-1982)

"The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose." - Richard E Grant

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. - H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

"Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." Thomas Jefferson (American 3rd US President (1801-09). Author of the Declaration of Independence. 1762-1826)