What information should ID cards contain ?

Maybe a bad April Fools joke, but I doubt it. Tony Blair is saying that he wants to accelerate the introduction of ID cards in the UK.

Apparently, the civil liberties objectors have all been won over! News to me. Maybe Tony Blair is living in some parallel universe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3590795.stm
 
Tony said:
My ideal ID card would be a blank white card.
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Why not a black card! RACIST!!!!:p


Gee, ID cards will save the world!!! Whatever, I had my first fake ID when I was 18. Im thinking its not to hard for terrorists to get fake ones either.

Back in the day my ID had my SS# they finally changed that.
 
I won't carry a national ID card either. I bought a US passport back in 2002 and damn it, that $60 is going to carry me until 2012! Even with the crappy photo!!
 
Boo said:
Most places around here require a picture ID for credit card prurchases.

Boo
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That is a violation of the agreement between the credit card provider and the merchant. They ain't allowed to ask (unless you haven't signed it).
 
geni said:
If Blunket gets his plans though I am due to become a criminal around 2010. I am not going to carry a national ID card.
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Me too except it will Be Charles Clarke branding us instead.
 
Of course, the whole "national ID card" thing is overblown and misunderstood. What's being passed is a set of standards that would be required to make a state ID card (such as a driver's license) valid ID for entering federal facilities. For example, the driver licenses that Ohio issues already comply with all of the suggested standards - so even if the bill passes, my Ohio driver license will be just fine, and future Ohio driver licenses won't look any different. When I lived in Texas, the license I had at that time had all the requirements already as well, so it wouldn't have changed either.

If your state driver license doesn't comply with the standard, all that means is that you'll have to use something else, like a passport, to enter a federal building.
 
CFLarsen said:
What is so bad about having an ID card?
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The concern is with who has access to the information on it and what they do with it. And we don't like the idea of the government tracking our every move and want to be able to move about freely without having to show our papers.

Plus, there is the very real threat of identity theft. A big problem here.
 
CFLarsen said:
What is so bad about having an ID card?
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For the UK System:

£16bn to implement.

It will not work (based on much smaller, much simpler gov't IT contracts which have failed).

No-one is able to explain how it is going to stop crime or terrorism. It didn't stop the Madrid bombings, it would not have stopped the London bombings and spending £16 billion on it means there is less many to spend on things that might actually make a difference.
 
Luke T. said:
What is the purpose of an ID card? What uses will it be put to? Will it have a bar code on it that is scanned every time it is used?
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No. My driver license has a black scan-strip on it. The only time my driver license was ever scanned in a machine was at a cigarette shop. They didn't even scan it at the airport when I went through security - they just looked at it.

Your driver license is a document which functions as evidence - that you have proven to a government body (the state government, to be sure) that you are who you claim to be. It's good enough evidence for the feds - including airport security - as long as it has certain specific information on it, like name, address, and an expiration date (which is ALL the legislation is about). Your driver license most likely fulfills all the requirements put forth in the legislation - which means that when you next renew your license, it will a) probably look exactly the same as it does now, barring any color or template changes that states like to throw up from time to time, and b) will be used exactly the way it is used now - as if this "national ID" legislation had never passed, or even been suggested.

So your card will continue to be "scanned" at places where it is currently scanned, and will continue to be only looked at in places where it is currently only looked at. Believe me, the phrase "national ID card" sort of made me double-take first time I read it, a while ago. But I looked at the legislation and decided that it's much ado about nothing. Read it and you'll see - it's one of the shortest pieces of legislation I've ever read. And all it says is, "in order for a state-issued ID to be good enough for the feds, it has to have x information on it".
 
For me the big issue with an ID card is NO state has a right to claim that I belong to it, as far as I am concerned the UK jsut happens to be the country I am living in at the moment.

And before anyone bangs on at me about being unpatriotic, I have worn uniform in the service of the UK and put my life on hte line for it.
 
A "national ID" card has to use intrusive and difficult to falsify technology. And that technology has to be used. I think this is the worry.

If it's decided that the equivalent of, say, a American driver's license is good enough, then it's basically toothless.
 
shecky said:
If it's decided that the equivalent of, say, a American driver's license is good enough, then it's basically toothless.
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It is quite toothless. People are afraid it is something more than what it is - but it is just like the bulk of similar legislation passed anymore - measures which accomplish nothing save furnishing the illusion that something is "being done" about the problem.

Again, the bill does not mean you'll be getting an ID or driver license that says "United States of America" on it. The bill just means that your Ohio/Texas/Vermont/Alaska/Whatever driver license will have certain information on it. Since most (if not all) driver licenses, as I've said, already contain the "necessary" information, the bill does a whole lot of nothing.
 
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