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Frequently Asked Questions.... |
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Download
entire Q&A; as pdf document. (Right-click and choose 'Save Target As' to save to disk) Q: “What do you stand for?” A: We are a single-issue protest group set up with the aim of stopping the government introducing a compulsory National Identity Card into the UK. We are also against ‘voluntary’ National Identity Cards as a back-door route to compulsion. For the full arguments against such a card, click here. Q: “In a nutshell, why are you against this?” A: This is not ‘merely a step too far,’ it is 100 giant paces towards totalitarianism. It is also expensive, unworkable and will produce very little of the ‘advertised benefits.’ It will not stop crime, it will not stop terrorism – indeed it could aid both of these. Whatever the problem or question, the National Identity Card is not the answer. If you care about our privacy and freedom please join us in our fight to stop this right now. Q: “I have heard that this will cost a lot to implement. Is this true?” A: The government’s own estimate is three BILLION pounds. Add to that the usual mess-up caused when any government gets involves with impossibly large projects, and you can double or triple that estimate. This at a time when our hospitals are a disgrace, schools are in urgent need of repair, our public transport systems are a joke and children in deprived areas are living in squalor. Now ask yourself why a government (and a LABOUR government at that) would rather spend three billion on logging us all into a giant computer system, than on such essential social tasks. Q: “Who will pay for it?” A: YOU will. Either directly (there are plans to charge you for the privilege of being turned into a number) or through increased taxation. Governments don’t have any money – it all comes from you and me, one way or another. And under a compulsory ID card system, you will be compelled to pay. You will not have a choice. Resistance will be met first with fines and then imprisonment. Q: “Where is the real danger here?” A: In the sneaky ‘stealth’ introduction of such cards, thereby disarming opponents. First our driving licences and passports will be ‘chipped’ with biometric information. This will ‘soften us up’ to the idea. Then foreigners will have to carry a biometric ID card – who will object? They’re only foreigners after all. Then social security claimants (on the ‘anti fraud’ ticket) will have to have a card. Finally, and ‘reluctantly’ (maybe under the disguise of ‘preventing terrorism’) they will introduce legislation forcing us all to be registered on the government computer. Q: “What is this ‘biometric’ I keep hearing about?” A: Unlike a photo or a signature (both of which can be easily faked) biometric information is truly unique to you. Fingerprints are nearly, but not quite, good enough (they are not quite unique and they are hard to read and match by computer). Current favourites are iris scans (your iris pattern is pretty unique) and DNA (your DNA is also nearly unique). Out of these two, iris scanners are much cheaper and easier to implement in the millions of scanners which will be required in the field. They are far from foolproof and produce many false readings. Q: “What’s wrong with having ID? Surely we need that in our modern world?” A: CASNIC does not oppose voluntary identity documents. Bus passes, library cards, bank cards, etc. Furthermore, we are not against any particular methods (e.g. biometric) of identification. Put simply, if you choose to have a biometric card issued by (say) ABC Bank, then this is your choice. You can bank there or not, carry their card or not – and sue ABC if they release your private information to a third party without your consent. We are against the compulsory introduction of a National Identity Card for every resident, with its associated ‘citizen database’ run by government bureaucrats. Such a database would grow year on year until eventually the government held a file on every person in the UK. The file (and card) could contain financial history, health background, religion, ethnicity, criminal convictions, purchase history, physical whereabouts of the ‘target’ citizen, political profile, DNA profile etc. etc. Each passing year will call for more data to be added to the card in the name of “anti-fraud” “anti-crime” “anti-terrorism” “protecting children” “anti tax-evasion” or any one of a number of similar reasons. Q: “Sounds a bit Big Brotherish I agree, but what makes you think this government want that kind of level of control?” A: All governments of all persuasions in all countries constantly seek increased power and control – often, by the way, for genuinely benign reasons, but often not. Successive governments-in-waiting in the UK have chattered abut ‘rolling back the frontiers of the state’ – each elected government has done the exact opposite when in power – introduced more laws, higher taxes, more centralisation and stripped away more freedoms. It is central to our argument that a National ID Card and its associated citizen database are the ultimate enabling tools for corrupt regimes. This government may be benign – but the next? And the next fifty governments? Basically, do you trust governments to have your best interests at heart? Q: “Won’t it stop crime?” A: Maybe it will prevent a certain amount of social security fraud, but that’s all. Certain other major crime may even be aided by such a card. For reasons, see the question below on terrorism. The proper way to tackle social security fraud is through proper identification of social security claimants – not compulsory introduction of ID cards for all citizens, claimants or not. (The same class of argument would be the introduction of a compulsory National Identity Card for all because... people were borrowing books from libraries using fake names and address and not returning them. The answer – better ID for library users, not for everyone.) Q: “But won’t it stop terrorism?” A: No. In fact it could make the terrorists life easier, if anything. Even the government dropped their tired ‘fighting terrorism’ slogan in 2002 regarding ID cards when they realised it didn’t stack up. David Blunkett has started using it again recently to bolster his other very weak arguments for this draconian measure. Imagine the Sept 11th terrorists abandoning their evil plan because... they didn’t have a valid ID card. That’s not very credible. Will lack of an ID card stop any determined terrorist? No. Also, many terrorists (e.g. Timothy McVeigh, Oklahoma bomber) are ‘card-carrying citizens’ of their own countries. The National Identity Card can and will be faked (see below) allowing terrorists to enter the country with fewer security checks than at present. Why? If you carry the card, and your eye scan matches the database – then “pass friend”, without a second glance. Normal ‘common sense’ anti-terrorism precautions will be dismantled and total reliance placed on the card. Q: “But these things cannot be faked, surely?” A: It’s a plastic card, made by man, with a chip, made by man. Anything made by man can be faked by man. You could not create such a fake card in your workshop. But what about an ultra-modern laboratory, run by the most sophisticated criminal minds on the planet, designed and built specifically to clean-up on the estimated 300 BILLION pound market in counterfeit cards? Would this headline from The Telegraph, June 2007, surprise you? “Parliament
Bombers Used Fake National Or this one: “Counterfeit ID Card Ring Discovered in Taiwan.” Or this one: “Drug
Lords Now Making More on Also,
these cards are produced by people, working in factories
(huge factories) staffed entirely by... people. These workers
will be, in the main, minimum wage employees. Do you think some
of them might be tempted by a bribe of £500, £1,000, £10,000 a time
to run a few ‘specials’ through the system, or deliver 100 ‘blanks’
to a guy in the pub, no questions asked? If not them, how about
the supervisors or managers? £100k a year ‘back-hander’ is pretty
tempting. |
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