ID cards

**Tribesman** · 07-03-2009, 20:44

Just wondering, for all you Brits.
Can you go through the responses to this article and find any that don't really say **** off?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...rds-fraud-cost
Or could you think of any arguement that wouldn't get a response of **** off?

**HoreTore** · 07-03-2009, 21:16

Here's one:

Originally Posted by contractor000

ID cards are a good idea.

The problem in Britain is that the ID card scheme has become confused with the Labour government, and Tony Blair's legacy, and therefore faces a near-impossible task in getting a reasoned examination.

So we get all these helpful comments like "Shove it" from barryanderic. Or, a little higher up "Leave us alone will ye ?".

Still: I think it's probably a good idea to make it voluntary.
The sad thing is all those raging incoherently against ID cards will, I think, find themselves obliged to pay for one in the long term.

They'll be queuing up to buy them, effing and blinding as they go, when they find they can't function as a normal citizen without demonstrating their ID.

But don't worry:
Most of the rest of the world has been through this.
None has revoked the ID card scheme once in place.

So unless the rest of the world is incompetent - that does suggest the scheme has some uses.

**InsaneApache** · 07-03-2009, 21:36

I just wish that Mr. 0% rise would just **** *** and take his slimey peers with him.

**rory_20_uk** · 07-03-2009, 21:44

In principle I think ID cards are a good idea: the potential to combine a passport, driving licence, proof of age, and basic medical history in one place is a good idea.

There are some massive issues that would have to be addressed such as security.

To prove that any idea can be screwed up by the government, they've manage to ensure the cost is vastly more than planned and the uses are almost nil - what are they for exactly?

Making them voluntary is the last farcical play of the idea: it'll catch terrorists, criminals and asylum seekers who decide to purchase a £30 card and carry it with them... Hmmmm. Unless these three groups are suddenly overly law abiding and brain dead this isn't going to happen.

**Beskar** · 07-03-2009, 22:22

ID card is for domestic use, or you can use a biometric passport for foreign use.

The idea is, however Rory, it is the opposite of your statement, it catches people without the card, not the people with the card. Making it voluntary ruins that whole idea.

**InsaneApache** · 07-03-2009, 23:24

"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear". So goes the mantra from the government.

I really wouldn't know where to begin.

**rory_20_uk** · 07-03-2009, 23:47

Originally Posted by Beskar

ID card is for domestic use, or you can use a biometric passport for foreign use.

The idea is, however Rory, it is the opposite of your statement, it catches people without the card, not the people with the card. Making it voluntary ruins that whole idea.

Yes, I know the only use is if everyone has one. And the government has made it voluntary. Hence why I think they've made it into a farce.

**InsaneApache** · 07-04-2009, 01:40

I feel sorry for Brown.

**Husar** · 07-04-2009, 01:43

I have an ID card...and I'm a slave...

Also I have to ask young people for ID cards when they want to buy alcohol, I will remember all the info and hack it into a secret government database each night because the government...already has it anyway. If you can find any holes in this argument you may keep them.
Also if you got nothing to hide, then you got nothing to fear.
The early bird catches the worm and as the martians say a pound weighs less than a kilogram.

What I don't like a lot is that your cards can be read out from a distance, a piece of paper with text on it or a magnetic chip that can only be read with contact or near-contact sounds like a much better idea to me.