Well - it looks like the House of Commons have finally bullied the House of Lords into accepting the ID cards bill. This makes me sad. I had a big discussion at work with one of my friends from South Africa, and he was very positive about ID cards, but, in general, I see no reason or purpose for them, and certainly don’t think that any of the reasons stated (decreasing crime/terrorism, etc) are even vaguely realistic.

Ultimately I have a real issue about a government (which I do not trust to either use the information appropriately, or keep the information secure) having a load of information that it doesn’t need, and has no real purpose for. I’m not against ID cards per se, but the information in the National Identify Database is a bit scary. And, ultimately, I don’t believe it’s going to work to stop crime, or stop terrorists, in the same way that fingerprints and DNA haven’t.

I suppose the big question is - do I ever want to go abroad again? Because as soon as I need to renew my passport (which I will in 2009 IIRC) my details will be taken.

For more info, check out No2ID.

mrBen