ID cards

[ciphergoth]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_2084000/2084860.stm

Note that the discussion of "what information might be stored on the smart chip" is pointless - for the most part, they can just as easily look up in a central database anything that isn't directly stored on the card.

Comments

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

Well there seems to be nothing stopping us stuffing the ballot on that bbc page - if anyone is really really bored...

[bootpunk.livejournal.com]

Of course, any form of card with enough info on it - a "critical mass" as such - will become rather involuntary very quickly. You don't have to carry ID in the US, but try getting into a bar in the East Village to drink on a Friday night if you don't have one. For a great deal of us, that makes the cards involuntary. If you need the card to collect benefits, carry out counter banking transactions, as ID for entry to government/official buildings, and many other normal activities, then everyone will have to have it on themselves just about all the time.

I used to be very, very strongly anti this, but I'm so used to carrying my bleeding passport all the time these days I'm more or less resigned to it all. Plus, I've lived in Switzerland, where they have ID cards, and if the UK ever approached the level of direct democracy and (apparant at least) personnal liberties there, I'd be a happy man. I might even move back - if class-conciousness and the clut of the celebrity were gone too ... :o/