ID Cards

[peggy]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------By mikecj in the Introduction of Advanced Passenger Information thread.
Maybe it's about time UK signed the Schengen agreement, then this information wouldn't be necessary - lobby your MP or MEP. By the way, maybe this is a good place to start a debate about UK adopting ID cards!! This forum has been a bit dull lately.
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So what are your views on ID cards ? Should we have them or is it yet another invasion of privacy ?

[tortugarum]

Here in Lanzarote any registered resident has an ID card ( Although recently this has changed) When paying by card this is then shown. this helps prevent fraudulent activity.
I would suspect all those in favour have nothing to hide and those against, well! Yes some would leap up and say this is private.
In any case most people have a European driving licence so in theory already have an ID Card.
We need to unite and stop the escalating crime, so vote for an ID card.

[oleoleole]

The government say (from BBC)
"ID cards will boost national security, tackle identity fraud, prevent illegal working and improve border controls."

If it does all that then I'm all for it, but will it ?

OK, I can see the border control thing, but that's why we already have passports.
I can see that certain identity frauds would become more difficult, but then again it would surely start a new crimewave of ID Card forgery.

At a whopping £5billion, I'm yet to be convinced !

Ole

[peggy]

What is the price for these ID cards did they say we had to pay £25 each or was it more like £90 ?
I'm all for it at the moment, then I'm not to sure about the pros and cons.

[Jackie H.]

I agree with Ole......for a change :lol

The honest, upright citizens amongst us will probably have no objection to it. Lots of our private/personal details are already floating about in cyber space with store/credit cards etc. But the people it is basically aimed at ain't gonna get one anyway are they? So I think it won't serve any useful purpose at all and at great expense. Think the cost estimate is at over £100 now Peg. :yikes

[madmare]

Am in total agreement with Tortugarum on this one, I missed out on getting a card in Lanzarote and now have an extra piece of paper to try not to lose. I am all for ID cards in all EU countries at the moment once you enter a country you can literally fall into a black hole and do what you like. I for one would be for this bit of Big Brother legislation and feel it should have been implemented years ago,.:sus

[oleoleole]

Quote from Tortugarum
"When paying by card this is then shown. this helps prevent fraudulent activity."


Yes, I agreee that's great and it means that anyone showing their ID card will be considered totally legit - but this is a deeam for the criminal minded, get a false ID card and you can really go to town on it, and so the ID card fraud will become a big criminal activity and so the ID card people will have to react with better technology and the whole thing spirals out of control - and the starting point of this sprial is £5 Billion !!!

BTW to get it in perspective £5 Billion equates to approx 25 large hospitals.

And that takes me back to my original point, exactly what will it achieve ?

Ole

[Jackie H.]

Well said Ole-right on the nail.

[peggy]

Here's a link about the proposed UK ID cars, it looks like 2010 is the date they will come into being or when you apply for a passport.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3127696.stm

I don't personally have a problem with them, but, if they are to be compulsory they should be issued free.
Even if it only helps catch a few terrorist, yobs and underage drinkers, then it has to be worth it. To much negativity around, think positive.:evil

[oleoleole]

Peggy,

Sorry to be negative, I’m all for it if it achieves something significant, but I’m not convinced.

Maybe if I could get a senior job on the IT project it would help convince me !

Cheers - Ole

PS, actually maybe not, just seen the IT work is going to the same people who cocked up the passport system ! Sorry, having a cynical day.

[Hotpot]

Well I had a pop about this on the original thread Mike started, so by having another one here hope I'm not sounding obsessive ;)

The question is not really whether ID cards are desirable but whether the way they will be developed and implemented in the UK will be effective where cost and fulfilment of purpose are concerned.

Not a single major IT project undertaken by the British Government in the past decade has worked first time out of the box. Not a single project has come in on budget. Quite the opposite: some have been so appalling, they've actually been scrapped.

Yet here we are with the UK Government promising "the most ambitious ID card system in Europe" (and, possibly, the world) -- in much the same fashion as a man who can't even build a garden wall without it falling over inviting everyone to now applaud his plan to construct a 4-bed detached house.

The reality is that, right this moment, suspected terrorists who were under the equivalent of house arrest, whose addresses are known, whose multi-identities are known, are currently at large because, er, we lost track of 'em.

They sort of, um, opened the door and went out to the shops and, oh dear, didn't come back.

Having everybody carry ID cards makes not a jot of difference to that kind of lethal incompetence. What will make a difference is tighter and better resourced policing, infinitely better domestic intelligence, and greater investment in point-of-entry border control.

The tragedy of the ludicrously expensive ID card scheme is not merely that it won't achieve that, but that it will actually divert funds away from where they should be invested.

Ends rant.

[oleoleole]

:clap

Unfortunately that's all too true.

Ole