ID schemes

My initial reaction to any sort of ID scheme is to say thanks but no thanks, the potential for loss of civil liberties seems to great. There are those that say that if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear, but i think that argument can only really apply if we are living in some sort of utopia where everything is all sorted out lovely. ID schemes gives the State greater power over the individual and surely limits the potential for dissent?

So after reading the article i thought i'll go look on the net for a bit more background information, lets see if i can't harden my opinion one way or the other. This was the first interesting site i found, i googled for arguments for and against ID schemes. I have to say after reading through this it has only strengthened my first gut instinct. Indeed in the Scotsman article even David Davis the shadow home secretary is quoted, "We have always thought that support for ID cards would melt like snow in the sun when the British public realised how much they would cost, the practical implications involved and the threat to security and civil liberties they would pose." The mind boggles when i think of the Thatcherite world i was brought up in when now prominent conservatives are denouncing a a controversial piece of governernment legislation.

Next up was this, now France, Germany, Portugal and Spain apparantly have them and they certainly don't seem to living in an Orwellian nightmare over there. Although maybe over in France their to busy enjoying the good food and burning british sheep to be bothered(joke), in fact the french don't seem to be shy of demonstrating and unlikely to accept oppresive legislation like an ID scheme, so is it as bad as i imagine? Well there is no national register in either France or Germany so they are possibly not a good comparison.

So what of the advantage of fight against crime and preventing such things as identity theft? Certainly little more than having a DNA database, something we have just opened in Britain. Indeed it would seem more likely to increase the prospects for identity theft related crime if we had a one stop ID that was intrinsicaly more valueable to criminals than any of the multiple pieces of ID and documentation we currently use. There is little doubt that any ID we can conjur will be cracked and susceptible to forgery. A potential nightmare for anyone if we live in a society where our ID becomes essential.

Then there is the cost, both to the goverment and to the individual. Estimated at costing between anywhere from £6bn to £18bn, this a hell of a lot of money for a scheme with huge question marks over it. I always thought the Millenium Dome was one hell of a waste of money but this has the potential to make that look like pennies lost down the back of the couch if it doesn't deliver what it promises, and lets face it with the current governement in charge that doesn't seem likely. Just look at the recent tax credits farce.

So to come to some sort of a conclusion, ideologicaly i have to say i am against a national ID scheme and even if i wasn't i wouldn't trust the lunatics in charge of the asylum that passes for our government anyway!