Anybody want one?

There's a big political debate and vote in the UK Parliament today as the government tries to push through laws to introduce ID cards in Britain. They tell us that ID cards will be vital to:

• Prevent terrorism
• Prevent crime
  
• Counter benefit fraud
• Double up as a passport/drivers' licence
  
• Enable us to have all our necessary identifications in one place

To implement the scheme, the Government will have to set up a huge IT system to store lots of our personal details, plus biometric data. This will mean that people who have never committed a crime, who have never done anything other than be a citizen of the UK, will have to have DNA tests, their fingerprints taken and an iris scan. Carrying ID cards will not be compulsory. They will cost "in the region of £100" to those who wish to have them.

No doubt the database will be outsourced to India for maintenance. Whatever happens, I'd like to bet that personal data ends up being sold to the highest bidders.

In terms of playing the prevention of terrorism card, it's already been established that the terrorists who perpertrated the 7th July London bombings were UK citizens; they'd have had UKID cards in the same way as they carried UK passports to go to Pakistan. Those who committed the train bombings in Madrid carried Spanish ID cards. And what about foreign terrorists entering a country, they wouldn't have an ID card anyway.

I've yet to see one argument or shred of evidence to convince me that ID cards can be of use in prevention of terrorism.

It's all a load of complete and utter bollocks, thought up by a paranoid government that is hell-bent on having total control of the people of UK. It is also part of a wider plan of the Europeans to ensure that all people in the EU carry ID cards, with all sorts of personal data being available to share between countries.

Hrrrrrm, not liking the sound of this. Why not just come out and barcode us at birth, or give us serial numbers in the same way that the Nazis treated the Jews and their other victims?

Fuckers. They can shitting well shit off. This is something that I definitely will demonstrate about. I know who I am, my family knows who I am, I can prove my ID ten times over, I do not want or need an ID card. I especially do not want to be fingerprinted or have my DNA analysed or iris scanned and stored on some central computer, along with other information about my family, who I live with, who I vote for, where I shop, how often I leave the country, etc, etc.

How about a quick vote? Who would like an ID card that:

• Is compulsory to have, but not to carry
  
• Contains biometric data such as fingerprints, iris scans, DNA profiles
  
• Contains personal data about you and your family
• Results in all your personal and health data being kept on one database
  
• Can be used to track a person's movements from job to job, country to country
• Can act as a passport (which we already have)
• Can act as a driver's licence (which we already have)
• Can act as proof of ID (which we already have)
• Will cost at least £100

Come on, any takers?


Seven seven, nine eleven
While I'm on about terrorism, which I'm not, there's something that really pisses me off about terrorist attacks (apart from horrific murder and destruction of course): the way they are identified through the abbreviated date of the attack, rather than the location or the targets.

It all started with the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon on 11th September, 2001. These atrocities, in which thousands of real people died and in which others' lives were destroyed, became abbreviated to 9/11. I think people were trying to signify a link between the loss of life from the NY Fire Department and Emergency Services - dial 911 you see. But in years to come, people will only know of 9/11, not about where the attacks took place, who it affected and why they made such an impact.

Of course the 11th of September 2001 was a kind of watershed, but the dehumanisation of the outrage seems to me to be a dangerous thing.

On 7th July 2005, 52 people were murdered by terrorists on the public transport network in London. To continue the trend, the press insist on describing these events simply by saying 7/7. This is impersonal and disrespectful.

Worse still, it's yet another example of annoying Americanisms creeping into our culture and it gets right on my fucking tits!