ID cards - who benefits

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ID Cards - Who Benefits?

The government recently published its draft Identification Card [ID card] bill, and hopes to bring in legislation later this year to introduce the cards. They claim that polls show about 80% of people are in favour of ID cards. However, the same surveys show people don't want ID cards if they have to pay for them which we will, either directly when getting a new driving licence or passport, or through increased taxes. Currently the estimated cost is £35 and it's likely to be more.

On top of this, most people are not aware of the full proposals contained in the draft legislation, which include the creation of a National Identity Register, containing information about everyone over

This information will include all names ever used, date and place of birth, all addresses ever lived at and the period when you lived there, physical characteristics which could be used to identify you (including biometric identifiers), nationality and immigration status. The Register will also include a list of other numbers allocated to you (i.e. National Insurance and NHS no's) and will be linked to a central national number. Meanwhile, separately, an NHS central database is already in the process of being set up and run by British Telecom, and within the next 18 months all your prescriptions and medical information will be entered into it.

Compulsion

The Government claims that the scheme would be voluntary initially. But look a little closer and it becomes clear this is false. Firstly if you renew or apply for a Driving Licence or Passport after 2007 there will only be an ID card version, so you will have to ?apply' to be entered on the Register - unless you want to give up travel and driving. You will have to pay extra for this (£35 at least) and attend an appointment for a biometric scan (fingerprints, iris scan etc.). Secondly the bill contains a provision for people to be added to the National Identity Register if information from other sources is available. So anyone could be added whether they like it or not.

Also the draft bill contains provision for registration to be made compulsory at a later date, and states clearly that this is the ultimate intention. When this happens the state can require you to attend to apply to be registered, and if you fail to do so you face a penalty of up to £2500. Not just once, but every time you are sent a notice to register.

Who can look at data?

A range of authorities including Police, Inland Revenue, Customs & Excise, Security Services, Immigration Service and Dept for Work Pensions will have the right to access your file. And the government will have the right to cross check your record with any records held on you by your bank, insurance companies and by credit checking agencies. It is likely there will be data sharing with other countries such as the USA too.

Both the private and public sector may have the right to look at cards and make checks on you. Whilst an entry must be made every time anyone checks your record, you have no right to see this ?audit trail'.

Big Brother

Even if you trust this government (and not many people do), can you be sure that you can trust all future governments. What if the BNP end up running your local council? Can you trust the private companies running the scheme; the data inputters with all your personal details; any hackers breaking into the system?

The loss of personal privacy fundamentally alters society. You may feel ?you've nothing to lose if you've nothing to hide', but do you really want others to be able to access your personal details such as who you previously lived with, what illnesses you've had in the past, whether you had a drink problem 10 years ago, your arrest for shoplifting or drugs as a teenager etc.

Penalties

Once registration becomes compulsory, as well as the penalty for failing to register, people face a range of penalties for failing to comply with the new regulations, including failure to notify authorities about a damaged or defective card; failure to notify the Govt of any change in personal circumstances eg a change of address (up to £1000 fine); failing to attend an appointment for a biometrics scan (up to £1000 fine). In fact you can be required to attend a biometric scan for any change to your entry on the register, for example if you get married, or simply want to correct an error on your record.

Terrorism

Blunkett says ID cards are needed to protect us from terrorism, but even he recently admitted that their role in counter terrorism will be marginal. Anyone in the UK for less than 3 months will not have to have an ID card so any potential terrorists could use short stay documents instead. Most of the September 11th hijackers were travelling under their own names and didn't have criminal records, so ID cards would have made no difference. The USA has no plans to introduce ID cards for its citizens, with even Bush saying that the cards are too illiberal to be accepted by the US public. Meanwhile, Spain has ID cards, but that didn't stop trains being blown up there.

In any event, why the fixation on terrorism? Many more people are killed every year at work; on the roads; waiting for operations; from the effects of pollution and climate change. Do these people not matter? Or is it just that there are not enough profits or political benefits to be gained from preventing these deaths?

Access to Services

Aside from terrorism, the Government also claims that the cards will save money by preventing illegal immigration and benefit fraud. But only £50m of benefits are lost a year through identity fraud - so spending at least £3.1bn to set up the ID cards scheme is hardly cost effective, even in their own terms.

They also claim ID cards will prevent ?health tourism', but what the scheme actually means is that anyone without an ID card will be left without access to healthcare. The problem of waiting lists and delays needs to be resolved by re-distribution of resources (e.g. the billions wasted on war), not leaving people to die on the streets.

False ID

The government plans to make carrying false ID a criminal offence. This is most likely to affect women fleeing domestic violence or others fleeing persecution, who might use a new identity to prevent their attackers from tracking them down. With all personal details held on a centralised computer belonging to a private company, it wont be hard for those fleeing violence to be traced, and if they try to sidestep this by using a different identity they may face up to 10 years in prison.

Why the push for ID cards?

In the aftermath of Sept 11, Bush presented the EU with a list of 48 demands, including secure machine readable passports with biometrics. Yet the US govt has no intention of requiring it's own citizens to have such passports or ID cards.

Also there is pressure from the companies making this technology, who try to persuade us all that this is what we need to make our lives secure. They, of course, stand to reap the £3.1 billion that it will cost to set the system up, not to mention running costs on top of that. On top of this they get to keep records on everyone, a handy database to keep tabs on anyone who decides to fight for their rights at work or in their communities.

Meanwhile, these are some of same companies responsible for refugees and other migrants leaving their home countries. Western multinationals make billions from the weapons used in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. They make billions from the eviction of people to make way for oil fields, mines and cash crops for use in the West. They make billions from relocating their factories to the Third World to ensure a plentiful supply of cheap labour with poor safety conditions. And now the companies are set to make millions from exploiting people's fears of scarcity of housing, health care and benefits here.

But how many people would want to leave their homes and families to live in a strange (often hostile) country if they weren't facing the threat of wars, or being without adequate means of subsistence? Multinational Corporations profit all round and set us fighting each other, instead of fighting back against the causes of poverty and oppression, and struggling for justice and freedom around the world.

Even when the odds seem impossible we have to fight to defend our communities from the interests of the wealthy and powerful. It's when we stop fighting that we've lost, because Governments and corporations know they can get away with whatever suits them and makes them the most profits.

We need to create a society based on people's real needs, where ordinary people control their own lives, communities and workplaces. In the mean time we need to resist ID cards and all other methods which make it easier for government and big business to control us.

For a detailed guide to the proposed ID card legislation go to