National identify cards, biometric readings, sensitive personal data held etc, is no-one worried?

[WideWebWitch]

Because I am. more here

I am extremely worried. I'm amazed that more people aren't. That argument that's always trotted out - if you've nothing to hide you've nothing to worry about. What crock! Everyone has something to hide, and everyone has the right to privacy.

I also rather wonder about something I remember reading hears ago: that constant spying on a person is a form of torture and people who feel like they are constantly being watched tend to go loopy. And It makes me think that just possibly some of the alleged rise in anti-social behaviour on the streets could be due to the low-level unease people feel at the constant surveillance, which makes them act irrationally.

Oh, and when ID cards come in, I'm going to get a dozen fake ones and swap them with friends.

If people want to live in society and have the benefits of society then we all have to pay a price.
As the world seems to want to come to the UK we have to protect our citizens and account for everyone here.
Only way to get away from it is to go and live abroad or become a hippy traveller and shun society.
AB

Price is too big to pay. It's so dangerous to put power like that in the hands of government. What if the next administration is even more dictator-like than this one - I mean a real dictatorship. Who are we to say that'll never happen? If it did then we'd really be in the sh*t.

It seems to me that so much is known about us already. If you have a Nectar card or Tesco's card for instance, someone somewhere has a very good idea what you feed your family.

Sci-fi movies don't seem so weird as we're turning into one!! If they did'nt let so many come into the country it might not be so bad.

Yeah, but that I don't care too much about if it helps them stock the right stuff in my local store (not that it does - more like discontinue everything I buy regularly). But I do care about someone having my iris signature (or whatever it's called) and fingerprints stored on computer. That is the most personal of information and it is mine and mine alone.

Also, everybody has the right to infringe the law from time to time at their own risk. For example, before the new computerised system came in I'd have been able to leave my MOT-less car on the road outside my driveless and garageless house for a few days/weeks until I could afford to get it fixed. Not anymore with big brother watching. No - I had to scrap it.

Having my finger prints stored on computer wouldn't bother me unlsess I was forced to do it by law. If if was voluntary and made life easier ( which is how we'd all get sucked in, I suppose)I'd go along with it.

I don't even have a photo driving licence, just a bit of green paper

We will be boycotting ID cards. (Actually we're emigrating but if we were staying we would be!)

Look at this . Hardly inspires me with confidence.

Agree QofContradiction, large govt sponsored computer databases don't fill me with confidence either.

And tihs will be compulsory, of course it will.

It is such a huge waste of money. That ticks me off more than anything else

Labour is committed to these ID cards. If you are truly worried about their effects (erosion of civli liberties, cost to produce and maintain them, et.c) then your best bet is to vote Conservative. The bottom line is Labour will charge forward with ID cards, and the Conservatives will scrap them. Those are your choices.

Oh, how nice, some casual bigotry about immigrants... look, muppets, quite apart from the fact that the Government has no business poking into citizens lives if they pay their taxes and don't kick their neighbours' bins over, look at what tends to happen with any new Govt computer system... the contract gets awarded to whoever's bunged Mr Tony the most dosh and then that company proceeds to make an utter bollocks of it.
At least I suppose there is the possiblity of confusing the system even further if the men in black come for you: just claim it must be a computer error.

Its true look whats happened with the NHS's computers. Its such a farce

Oh yes. Data management. A pet subject of mine as it happens. Who is going to manage the data? How is it going to be collected? Who is going to collects it. Who is going to validate it's accuracy (if anyone).And, most importantly, is it all going to reside in one central place???? Or are we going to have fifteen different incompatible systems?

None of this has been explained. The costs will escalate. Think they better save their money for the olympics.

PLEASE VOTE CONSERVATIVE

Yes, very worried it it it.

(but I would never vote tory)

My dh works in IT and specialises in Security and he said it would be a security nightmare and that it would take an incrediable amount of money to make it secure and even then, who knows.

Oooh, I couldn't put 'hate'!

Turned off my very keen adult content filter!

Meant to say 'hate it'

And yet it let me say 'tory'

It worries me, but I am comforted by the fact our govt's (of any hue) have yet to run a successful computer system.

How is that comforting?

I think she means she's comforted by the fact that it isn't ever going to happen.

You got it in one, Eleusis.

I've worked for the Inland Revenue, and Social Services and had access to huge amounts of personal data in both of these jobs.

With a bit of work (and an absolute absence of moral considerations), I reckon I could have caused a considerable amount of mischief with all the information I had access to. Much like this guy who worked at the DVLA and passed personal records to animal rights activists. You can multiply that 100-fold if I had access to all of your life's data, rather than just the tax bit. Get it right and I reckon you could be off to somewhere high temperature, low tax and zero extradition treaty before anyone noticed they'd been cleaned out.

I'll happily accept a biometric passport. I suspect it might have a fatal encounter with a microwave soon after it reaches me though. .. See more on the dangers of ID here .

Have the Conservatives really said they'll scrap id cards?