ID cards to be introduced. What do you feel. ?

[Fishingboatbobbingnight]

I have worked in serious organised crime for two decades. This is one of the best bits of news I have read in a long while. I have also been involved in ‘small boat’ arrivals. The reason people will by pass several safe EU countries to get to the UK is ‘I can get lost if I don’t get asylum’ ‘UK has no ID cards’ . It’s a no brainer .. why why has it taken so long. ? If you want to have the services your country has to offer - through most of the world - from healthcare to the library- you need to show you are a bona-fida citizen. However , for some unfathomable reason , the flag waving right wingers are always the one to oppose ..is it because they are scared it will work and leave their thinly veiled racism floundering ?

Yes to ID cards = YANBU
No to ID cards = YABU

Benefit fraud investigators can already link up to bank accounts. There are many information sharing protocols in place already, though this will make investigating fraud easier.

I see we had the same thought there

Think beyond the immediate. In theory this is fine, but think what this could be used for.

It’s always small steps, so the argument is always that this step is only marginally worse than what they make us do now.

Just think for a moment what it could be used for if a government got in that wanted to limit your freedoms. Don't have your annual injections? Can't go shopping (See covid vaccines and vaccine passports for this one) Buy too much alcohol? Reduce your access to healthcare as it’s self inflicted. It’s the first step towards ceding to the government massive control over our lives.

It's not crazy to think it will be expanded into a social credit system as in China. If your score is too low in China, you can be banned from flying, rail travel, luxury consumption etc.

It's a lot easier to control people when you can control where they can go and what they do. Protests will be difficult to arrange if people can't get there, for example.

This is all being pushed as an answer to the problem of illegal immigration, but will make no difference whatsoever - those hiring them know perfectly well they’re here illegally and will carry on regardless. This will only impact the law-abiding.

How long until it's revealed that it'll be Palantir in charge of creating the database?

Expensive, pointless, unnecessary and rather creepily controlling. Won't achieve anything, other than job creation for the admin.

Countries with ID cards still have human trafficking. And surely ID cards can be faked. It's a no from me, we have passports.

How will old people who don’t have a smart phone use this digital ID? How will it be policed? How will it be paid for? I don’t like it personally

I am all for ID card, but qould prefer physocal like my ither one is tbh

I am so in favour od this. If you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to lose. Not everyone has a passport or a driving licence, which are our defacto ID cards in this country. Your ID card just sits in your wallet/purse, or digitally on your phone, and can be used to verify major purchases, prove who you are when moving house, voting, getting medical care, and also stop criminals. For those saying they can't see how it works, if you are stopped for an offence and cannot provide ID for a fine, you will be held in custody until your ID is produced.

I imagine one of the reasons they are talking about digital cards is because they would be a bigger challenge to fake than a physical card.

So let anyone who wants to claim benefits need to produce/apply for this id card?

also, what will be the cost of all of this? I’m not interested in having to pay £££ for no reason. I pay for my pp.

I really don’t understand why people are getting an atomic wedgie over ID cards.

I lived in 4 other countries and had to carry my photo/ finger print/ hologram ID in my wallet at all times. It had my “status” in the country on the back of it, my FIN no. Which was my work visa no.

It actually helped access things.

One place literally mopped up all their illegals by the police standing on corners and asking people. “ can I see your ID please?” If it had expired, or I was illegal I would’ve been escorted to the police station. I was stopped a few times. There you go officer, no biggie.

All these things will add up to less illegals.

Nowadays ID cards are difficult to fake qith the chip etc.
But also, it's usually just citizens who get them. Non citozens have different document. I am quite surprised the proposal here is for everyone.

It’s terrifying and I won’t be complying.
It has nothing to do with stopping immigration and everything about control.

A genuine question… how do you prove your identity in the UK. My parents have recently joined me abroad and I’ve been sorting their tax affairs in the UK on their behalf and the accountant asked for proof of identity. They have passports but what do you use if you don’t have passports.

Where we live you cannot really do anything without your id. It’s a number assigned to you at birth and after 16 it has photo identification and now lately finger print biometrics. Biometrics are linked to our banking system for identification which is good for anti-fraud purposes.

I think it will help those without passports or driving licence but unless there’s some kind of penalty or refusal of NHS service etc , it’s pretty useless .

I don’t object in principle- but it was always those on the left that objected, not the “flag waving right wingers”.
I do object to it being digital. Many people don’t own a smartphone. I do but mine is so old I can’t install even basic apps like BBC Sounds or Nextdoor. I can’t afford a new phone and don’t actually want one.

Cos if we all pay £100 for a new id card we can have an Extra patrol to those who employ illegal workers.

We have to think about the consequences.
Currently there's nothing to stop employers being raided for illegal workers. Why don't they do it more?

If you have neither a driving licence nor a passport and cannot (for whatever reason) get either of these, how can you prove who you are for the purposes of a Digitial ID scheme?

This will do nothing to prevent illegal immigration and nothing to prevent black market working. It will be a hideously expensive digital infrastructure disaster, with a system that will be years out of date before it's even fully implemented.

But the government do not want to get rid of illegals.
They don’t even want to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

Remember when you had to have a digital app to “scan in” to venues during covid so the government knew exactly where you’d been and when, and could then track you down and force you to stay at home and lose your income - even if you weren’t unwell. This all just feels a little bit like over reach against the backdrop of the Covid years.

I would worry about those at the margins of society - the very elderly, the homeless, those with additional support needs, the mentally ill. How would they access a digital ID system? Would they even know about it? However, I heard on the BBC today that there is a very successful system in India, which is voluntary, but because it is so useful in giving citizens access to services without them having to prove who they are (e.g. with stupid utility bills,, etc) it has been having a really good take up across society. Perhaps we could consider a voluntary scheme at first and see how that goes.

Bills and such I think. Tbh still baffled by that as well...

Because the police have limited resources and raiding factories is not a priority.

We have reached the point where it is very difficult to function as an adult without some kind of ID, so the only difference this really makes is that it will be cheaper than applying for a passport.

Someone will make some serious money for sure, including some MPs, etc who will take some backhanders for awarding contracts I suspect. Quite possibly money has already been exchanged. Promises of exec positions on boards, etc.