[Gllug] re: USA / civil liberties etc

Thu Apr 27 12:09:59 UTC 2006

On Thu, Apr 27, 2006 at 12:52:39PM +0100, t.clarke wrote:
> On the subject of civil liberties/USA and all that, below is an interesting
> email I received re ID cards !!
> 
> ------------------
> 
> 
> 
>  What ID Cards really do
> ...

Thank you for that Tim. We are sleep walking to a police state.

Don't think ''we can trust the government'', the government is run by people
who include: the usual percentage of dubious characters; people who have
reasons for wanting to know/control you (your business competitor, your ex wife, ...)

Visit: www.no2id.net

>  You may have heard that legislation creating compulsory ID Cards passed a
>  crucial stage in the House of Commons. You may feel that ID cards are not
>  something to worry about, since we already have Photo ID for our Passport
>  and Driving Licence and an ID Card will be no different to that. If you
>  have nothing to hide, why should you care.
> 
>  What you have not been told is the full scope of this proposed ID Card,
>  and what it will mean to you personally.
> 
>  The proposed ID Card will be different from any card you now hold. It will
>  be connected to a database called the NIR, (National Identity Register)
>  where all of your personal details will be stored. This will include the
>  unique number that will be issued to you, your fingerprints, a scan of the
>  back of your eye, and your photograph. Your name, address and date of
>  birth will also obviously be stored there.
>  There will be spaces on his database for your religion, residence status,
>  and many other private and personal facts about you. There is unlimited
>  space for every other detail of your life on the NIR database, which can
>  be expanded by the government with or without further Acts of Parliament.
> 
>  By itself, you might think that this register is harmless, but you would
>  be wrong to come to this conclusion. this new card will be used to check
>  your identity against your entry in the register in real time, whenever
>  you present it to 'prove who you are'. Every place that sells alcohol or
>  cigarettes, every post office, every pharmacy, and every Bank will have an
>  NIR Card Terminal, (very much like the Chip and Pin Readers that are
>  everywhere now) into which your card can be 'swiped' to check your
>  identity.
>  Each time this happens, a record is made at the NIR of the time and place
>  that the Card was presented. This means for example, that there will be a
>  government record of every time you withdraw more than 99 at your branch
>  of Nat West, (who will soon demand ID for these transactions) .
>  Every time you have to prove that you are over 18, your card will be
>  swiped, and a record made at the NIR. Restaurants and off licences will
>  demand that your card is swiped so that each receipt shows that they sold
>  alcohol to someone over 18, and that this was proved by the access to the
>  NIR, indemnifying them from prosecution.
> 
>  Private businesses are going to be given access to the NIR Database. If
>  you want to apply for a job, you will have to present your card for swipe.
>  If you want to apply for a London Underground Oyster Card, or a
>  supermarket loyalty card, or a driving licence you will have to present
>  your ID Card for a swipe. The same goes for getting a telephone line or a
>  mobile phone or an internet account. Oyster, DVLA, BT and Nectar (for
>  example) all run very detailed databases of their own. They will be
>  allowed access to the NIR, just as every other business will be.
>  This means that each of these entities will be able to store your unique
>  number in their database, and place all your travel, phone records,
>  driving activities and detailed shopping habits under your unique NIR
>  number.
> 
>  These databases, which can easily fit on a storage device the size of your
>  hand, will be sold to third parties either legally or illegally. It will
>  then be possible for a non governmental entity to create a detailed
>  dossier of all your activities.
>  Certainly, the government will have clandestine access to all of them,
>  meaning that they will have a complete record of all your movements, from
>  how much and when you withdraw from your bank account to what medications
>  you are taking, down to the level of what sort of bread you eat - all
>  accessible via a single unique number in a central database.
> 
>  This is quite a significant leap from a simple ID Card that shows your
>  name and face. Most people do not know that this is the true character and
>  scope of the proposed ID Card. Whenever the details of how it will work
>  are explained to them, they quickly change from being ambivalent towards
>  it.
> 
>  The Government is going to compel you to enter your details into the NIR
>  and to carry this card.
>  If you and our children want to obtain or renew your passports, you will
>  be forced to have your fingerprints taken and our eyes scanned for the
>  NIR, and an ID Card will be issued to you whether you want one or not
>  (and you will have to pay for it) .
> 
>  I f you refuse to be fingerprinted and eye scanned, you will not be able
>  to get a passport. Your ID Card will, just like your passport, not be your
>  property. The Home Secretary will have the right to revoke or suspend your
>  ID at any time, meaning that you will not be able to withdraw money from
>  your Bank Account, for example, or do anything that requires you to
>  present your government issued ID Card.
> 
>  The arguments that have been put forward in favor of ID Cards can be
>  easily disproved.
> 
>  ID Cards will not top terrorists; every Spaniard has a compulsory ID Card
>  as did the Madrid Bombers.
> 
>  ID Cards will not 'eliminate benefit fraud', which in any case, is small
>  compared to the astronomical cost of this proposal, which will be measured
>  in billions according to the LSE.
>  This scheme exists solely to exert total surveillance and control over the
>  ordinary free British Citizen, and it will line the pockets of the
>  companies that will create the computer systems at the expense of your
>  freedom, privacy and money.
> 
>  If you did not know the full scope of the proposed ID Card Scheme before
>  and you are as unsettled as I am at what it really means to you, to this
>  country and its way of life, I urge you to email or photocopy this and
>  give it to your friends and colleagues. The Bill has proceeded to this
>  stage due to the lack of accurate and complete information on this
>  proposal being made public. Hand to hand, we can inform the entire nation
>  if everyone who receives this passes it on.
> 
>  Please make sure you do this.
> 
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