Don't be fooled. The ID card has not gone away

Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens — just as it is now to obtain a passport. Accordingly, I want the introduction of identity cards for all British citizens to be voluntary

Alan Johnson, Home Secretary - 1st July 2009

We will reduce the information British citizens have to give for the new biometric passport to no more than that required for today's passport. And so conference, I can say to you today, in the next parliament there will be no compulsory ID cards for British citizens

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister - 29th September 2009

Following Alex's very well-received blogpost summing up our opposition to body scanners - and a number of new stories from this week - I thought it would be useful to provide a list of the numerous ways in which a government supposedly committed to 'personal choice' on identity has pushed, cajoled and coerced the nation into applying for an ID card.

If you are over 60 and want a bus pass - Pensioners could be forced to carry identity cards to qualify for free bus travel

If you are poor and bank at RBS and Lloyds - Meg Hillier said companies might offer to buy the £30 cards for people who wouldn’t pay for them otherwise

Or if you are just poor - Home Office minister Meg Hillier argues ID cards can provide the foundation for fairer access to services and opportunities

If you work at an airport - All staff who work 'airside' are eligible to get a free card as part of the regional roll-out of the ID cards scheme

If you are aged 18-24 and live in London (and want to buy alcohol) - Meg Hillier said People aged 18 to 24 will be able to spend £30 on a biometric photocard that can be used to prove their age when buying alcohol or age-restricted goods or to gain entry to a nightclub

If you are a Premiership footballer or 'skilled migrant' - The Home Office said that from January 6 skilled migrants would have to apply for identity cards when their visas expired. This further roll-out of the plans was brought forward from April

If you are a civil servant - Phil Woolas, the Immigration minister, faced ridicule last night after announcing that his own civil servants would be the first Britons to be issued with identity cards

When applying for a CRB check - Millions could be asked to provide ID card and fingerprint data to get a job under new systems being developed by the Home Office following a collapse in the accuracy of background checks

And finally...to prevent identity fraud and terrorism - Alan Johnson: We need identity cards, and soon

And the areas this 'non-compulsory' scheme has been 'rolled out'...

Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Berwick and Northumberland - Identity cards could be introduced across the North-East by the end of the year, it has been revealed

Birmingham and Warwick - Identity cards are to be issued in Birmingham, the Home Office has announced

Lancashire - Identity cards are to be rolled out across Lancashire in the New Year

Cheshire - ID card scheme rolled out in Cheshire

London - London is about to see the roll-out of the latest stage of the government's identity card scheme

Manchester - Residents of Greater Manchester will be the first British citizens able to apply for a voluntary ID card

And...our friendly, neighbourhood Post Office - Post Office co-opted to hasten ID card rollout

This list is probably not comprehensive, BUT don't let anyone - Minister, politician, Joe Public - ever tell you the ID card scheme has gone away. The Government is trying every trick in the political playbook to press identity cards into the hands of a deeply skeptical general public.

We must not let them. Go to www.no2id.net to read more.

By Dylan Sharpe

Comments

[Bob Morgan]

Mmmmmm! - They have not thought this one through! Take me for instance? - A 50 Year Old Infrequent Visitor to the UK (British Born and Bred!) I cannot get an Identity Card because I do not have an 'Address!' My Passport (According to Mystic Smeg, 'The Most Supreme Form of Identity), does not surpass a 'Gas Bill!' Why would I want to spend my 'Annual Leave' in The UK? - My 'Home Country?'

- To be 'Spied Upon?' To be 'Stopped at Gatport Airwick' where I am asked the 'Purpose of my Visit?' To have all 'Cash removed from my Wallet?' - These events have all happened in the past!

I do not think so! - Not any more!

Carry-On, and watch 'DeadEnders,' together with all of the other 'PAP' which is being fed to you!

I am glad that I am out of it!

Ignorance is Strength!
Freedom is Slavery!
War is Peace!

[TheBigYin]

Bugger, I live in Middlesbrough and didn't see this. Eff them, I WILL NOT be getting one but looks like my wife, a pensioner, will be forced to in order to get her bus pass, bastards!

[blastproof]

"If you are a civil servant" Should be fun: they keep losing theirs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4884223/Civil-servants-lose-23-identity-cards-every-day.html

[Victor Cardiss]

Two hundred and sixty countries are introducing the same Biometric ID card, yet they insist an calling it a 'national' ID card.
The same private, American company will administer the database in each country (though it may have a different name in each).
By the time it becomes compulsory you'll need it for everything and you'll look like a bit of a Ludite for not wanting one. It will however have so many problems that the government will have to come up with an incredible, global solution.... The personal ID Chip!
(http://www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com/main/news.php)

[Tonyurquhart]

The same thing's happening in Cambridgeshire, where OAP's might be "allowed" to use an identity card instead of a bus-pass.

[Purlieu]

You really can't make this stuff up
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/19/id_cards_v2_plans/

[Maui Wedding Videographer]

Don't know what is wrong what is rite but i know that every one has there own point of view and same goes to this one..

[Answering experts]

Don't know what is wrong what is rite but i know that every one has there own point of view and same goes to this one..

[Glen]

Bugger, I live in Middlesbrough and didn't see this. Eff them, I WILL NOT be getting one but looks like my wife, a pensioner, will be forced to in order to get her bus pass, bastards!
http://www.hotfilemediafire.com

[Cpa Gainesville]

Two hundred and sixty countries are introducing the same Biometric ID card, yet they insist an calling it a 'national' ID card.
The same private, American company will administer the database in each country (though it may have a different name in each).

[beco baby carrier]

We all have our personal identity and ideas to think of.

[Nomi]

Personal identity cannot be ignored in anyway....however idea is good..
http://www.allabthealth.com