[Gllug] London explosions

[Michael Moritz]

On Monday 11 July 2005 16:00, Mike Brodbelt wrote:
> > the us doesnt, that's why they keep pushing them via europe.
>
> I belive the US has compulsory carry driving licences (if you're
> driving), and as pretty much everyone in the US drives, there being
> effectively no public transport outside major urban areas, the driving
> licence is effectively a form of ID card.
Yes and no. The us is large and people for instance in major cities dont drive (just remembered supersize me and the typical new yorker doing twice the distance by foot than that of the average american), And then, I'm not sure that the us driving licence contains biometric information.
The uk proposal is quite unique in that way, registering biometric information of everybody and getting us to pay for it and not the companies that will abuse it. Note that the uk also has driving licenses already and many people have one so would be maybe an argument to not have extra id cards. also, since uk citizens are more likely to travel abroad (compared to us citizens), they are more likely to already have a passport.
>
> Most of Europe does have ID cards, and people I've spoken to from
> elsewhere in Europe sometimes don't see the problem with ID cards. IMO,
> the cards themselves aren't problematic, it's the National Identity
> Register I have issues with (and compulsory carry, as and when they try
> to introduce that).
Looking at the wikipedia (thanks for that) it's not the case: germany has a very relaxed one. You either have a passport or an id card, you dont have to carry it on you all the time. no biometric info there and no electronic info stored on it (after all it's a piece of paper).
A am not sure about the French one. I lived there for a year and registered with the local authority (which is common in many european countries) and you get a stamp in your passport that I didnt have to carry around at all the time. Not sure what they would say if I produced my driving license instead?

mimo
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