How can we explain this? Maybe this will help, though it's depressing. There’s further discussion of it here.
In case you’ve missed them, Blimpish and Chris Lightfoot are good too.
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The ID card scheme is NOT about cards. It's about a database containing interesting data on us all. In fact, the Bill itself gives the game away when it defines the statutory purpose of the Bill: to create a database.
This database comes with an 'audit trail' (only the Home Office don't call it that) which logs all accesses used to prove identity. So if you use your card to prove your age in a gay bar, there's a record kept. If you use your card to get treatment at a mental health clinic, there's a record kept. If you use your card to collect benefits, there's a record kept.
If (when) the police stop you (under Terrorism Act terms they don't even need reasonable suspicion to stop you in London) they will take a quick look at the database using their online terminal, and then conclude they have an unemployed gay nutter on their hands. Am I the only one who thinks that the police just might not keep an open mind when deciding what to do?
The data is kept in the database forever. Even when you die. So your lifestyle from decades ago could get you in trouble.
New Labour, New Stasi.
Posted by: K | December 16, 2004 at 03:52 PM