Wednesday, November 12, 2003
He's done it, he's actually gone and done it. David 'Big Brother was a poof' Blunkett has apparently managed to put in to place measures to ensure that by 2012 every man, woman and child has an identity card, something that will not increase your safety by one iota, but will make it easier for the Government to know where they are if for any reason at all they want to come round and kick your head in. Metaphorically speaking. After all, we have a Conservative party leader who, like Blunko, has a poor record when it comes to gay rights (the only difference being that Howard actually introduced anti-gay legislation whereas Blunko only voted against repealing any of it). Once ID cards are established, it might be 'common sense' for them to contain all the sort of information you'd be expected to fill in on a census form. Blunkett is trying to push legislation through the Lords so that juries in trials will be made aware of criminals past convictions before they decide whether he's innocent or guilty. This is a man who wants to redraw the legislative map to redefine what it means to be guilty or innocent. Now consider, do you trust him to bring in ID Cards?
He's been fairly clever about it really. No one wants them, his cabinet colleagues don't want to support them so what does he do? Integrate them as much as possible with everyday life, ID Cards by stealth. Over the next few years they will be part of people's driving licenses and passports. So most people will have no choice but to have ID Cards if they also expect to continue to drive or travel abroad. It's the same with GM Foods, concentrate on weakening the safeguards stopping them getting into food manufacturing and then the public don't have any choice but to eat them, they're in the food.
But let's hear it from the donkey's mouth. There are no great surprises in this press statement; lots of the proposals have been down as suggestions for months.
The scheme would:
*boost the fight against illegal working - giving employers a recognisable secure way of ensuring people are entitled to work - and making it easier to prosecute those employers who break the law. From the commencement of the scheme all foreign nationals entering the UK for more than three months will have to pay for a biometric residence permit;
Utterly ridiculous. There are many people out there desperate for work, and people looking for people to do work who don't care where the workers come from. In 2001 it was thought there were 170 000 workers in the 'grey economy' of the UK, purely in terms of UK citizens, this article from May this year estimated that there could be 'hundreds of thousands' of illegal workers, doing the jobs no-one else wants to do. Where is Blunko, having had to find the money to pay for the creation of the ID cards and the database, going to find the money to pay for the rooting out of companies that hire people illegally and what is it about ID cards here that will help them to stop these employers that they can't currently do? And check that last line, foreign nationals... will have TO PAY for a biometric residence permit. I can imagine that Gordon Brown will have words to say about that, and the CBI, and unions such as the Nursing and Teachers unions, who often rely on foreign workers to prop up their services in areas where they are short. Young teachers and nurses don't earn enough to live in the areas of London where they work, another charge, even a small one somewhere under £100 will be most unwelcome.
*tackle immigration abuse - the lack of a card in the UK compared to most other EU countries is a pull factor for those who think they can come here and disappear;
I don't even need to argue this one, it's just indefensible. There is absolutely no proof for this as it's just hearsay. You could equally say the lack of a card in the UK compared to most other EU countries is a pull factor for those who think they can come here and have all the Long Island Ice Teas they want.
*disrupt the use of false and multiple identities by terrorists and organised crime groups such as money laundering which supports their terrorist or other criminal activities. Using multiple identities is one of the most common practices of those involved in terrorist activity;
Anything worth having is worth copying. If the current system of passports and checks do not stop terrorists and organised crime groups then there is absolutely no reason to think that they won't get around ID Cards too. The individuals who took control of the planes that crashed in September 11th 2001 weren't using false papers. A terrorist doesn't become a terrorist until he commits an act of terror. Often then it's too late.
*ensure free public services are only used by those entitled to them - preventing abuse such as 'health tourism';
Ironically this should be where the Tories support the Government as in July they wanted an entitlement card system for eligibility for access to treatment but again, they have no concrete figures on how much health tourism costs the NHS. Also, this is a situation which cannot be solved unless the ID Cards are held by 100% of the population of the country, issued at the moment of birth and cancelled at the instant of death and are mandatory documents which must be carried at every single moment of the day, so that even if people were running from their burning houses they would all be carrying their ID cards with them. Until such a point the ID card scheme will not work for this aim. As it is, it will ensure a steady stream of work for the counterfeiters, if the problem is as acute as Blunko would have us believe.
*help protect people from identity theft - it can take the average victim 300 hours to put their records straight.
I wonder how they worked that one out. That is almost forty-three days, and what are they defining as 'putting the records straight', how long it takes to get new bank cards or passports? Even so, it's unlikely to be forty-three active days worth of effort. Unless the passport people go on strike again I suppose.
The press release then continues From October 2004, only holders of biometric visas will be able to enter the USA, so far I've only been able to find reports that the US is demanding Canadian passports to contain biometric data, not the whole world.
Public responses to the Government's consultation last year showed that 62 per cent of people are in favour of ID cards. This rose to 80 per cent in a survey of a representative sample of the population.
Have a look at The STAND website. The figure of 62% in favour has been achieved by ignoring everyone that emailed opposition through STAND. Now, STAND quotes the figures that the Home Office have given. They're accepting the views of 5000 people, and 4200 of which that expressed an opinion. Now, my maths is crap, but that works out as 2520 people in favour of ID cards. Now, assume the STAND site sent 5000 opinions, 96% of them would be 4800. That would mean that in total, there would be 30% in favour of cards and 69% against, a pretty ringing defeat there, especially considering the Home Office wasn't pretty vocal in telling people that this consultation was going ahead (see update).
As ever, I can only recommend you read the STAND report on ID Cards, if you do you'll have already made more of an effort than Government officials, then perhaps Fax Your MP and try and ensure they're on-side and against ID Cards, if they're Opposition MPs or rebellious Labour backbenchers you might like to point out the discrepancies in the numbers too, give them some ammo to help make Blunkett squirm. Genuine 'public support' has thus far been lukewarm, The Sun and The Daily Mail are keen as they think that it'll help stop these millions of illegal immigrants they imagine swarming into the country every night. The more vocal people are now, the greater chance that they'll swing round to support us later when the actual orders are made.
If you want an image, think of a black Labrador, licking your face. That's Sadie, licking you while her master David Blunkett's boot is grinding in to your face, forever.
UPDATE (13/11/03): According to a report in The Scotsman the Home Office have decided to ignore the STAND emails because it was "an electronic petition which is qualitatively different from ordinary responses from members of the public" according to the Home Office minister Beverley Hughes. However, as I've shown above, they HAVE ignored the STAND messages, purely because of the way it would affect the figures. Strangely, anyone who emailed them through STAND has become an unperson, which at least is good news for 5000 of us as unpersons don't need ID cards, we don't count as members of the British public who might be a tadge concerned about civil liberties erosions. It also shows the woeful IT ignorance of the Government, it was an identikit letter that was sent, not an e-petition...
The report also quotes the Association for Payment Clearing Services as being extremely doubtful about how good biometric systems are, having declined them themselves as not being advanced enough yet to work...
He's been fairly clever about it really. No one wants them, his cabinet colleagues don't want to support them so what does he do? Integrate them as much as possible with everyday life, ID Cards by stealth. Over the next few years they will be part of people's driving licenses and passports. So most people will have no choice but to have ID Cards if they also expect to continue to drive or travel abroad. It's the same with GM Foods, concentrate on weakening the safeguards stopping them getting into food manufacturing and then the public don't have any choice but to eat them, they're in the food.
But let's hear it from the donkey's mouth. There are no great surprises in this press statement; lots of the proposals have been down as suggestions for months.
The scheme would:
*boost the fight against illegal working - giving employers a recognisable secure way of ensuring people are entitled to work - and making it easier to prosecute those employers who break the law. From the commencement of the scheme all foreign nationals entering the UK for more than three months will have to pay for a biometric residence permit;
Utterly ridiculous. There are many people out there desperate for work, and people looking for people to do work who don't care where the workers come from. In 2001 it was thought there were 170 000 workers in the 'grey economy' of the UK, purely in terms of UK citizens, this article from May this year estimated that there could be 'hundreds of thousands' of illegal workers, doing the jobs no-one else wants to do. Where is Blunko, having had to find the money to pay for the creation of the ID cards and the database, going to find the money to pay for the rooting out of companies that hire people illegally and what is it about ID cards here that will help them to stop these employers that they can't currently do? And check that last line, foreign nationals... will have TO PAY for a biometric residence permit. I can imagine that Gordon Brown will have words to say about that, and the CBI, and unions such as the Nursing and Teachers unions, who often rely on foreign workers to prop up their services in areas where they are short. Young teachers and nurses don't earn enough to live in the areas of London where they work, another charge, even a small one somewhere under £100 will be most unwelcome.
*tackle immigration abuse - the lack of a card in the UK compared to most other EU countries is a pull factor for those who think they can come here and disappear;
I don't even need to argue this one, it's just indefensible. There is absolutely no proof for this as it's just hearsay. You could equally say the lack of a card in the UK compared to most other EU countries is a pull factor for those who think they can come here and have all the Long Island Ice Teas they want.
*disrupt the use of false and multiple identities by terrorists and organised crime groups such as money laundering which supports their terrorist or other criminal activities. Using multiple identities is one of the most common practices of those involved in terrorist activity;
Anything worth having is worth copying. If the current system of passports and checks do not stop terrorists and organised crime groups then there is absolutely no reason to think that they won't get around ID Cards too. The individuals who took control of the planes that crashed in September 11th 2001 weren't using false papers. A terrorist doesn't become a terrorist until he commits an act of terror. Often then it's too late.
*ensure free public services are only used by those entitled to them - preventing abuse such as 'health tourism';
Ironically this should be where the Tories support the Government as in July they wanted an entitlement card system for eligibility for access to treatment but again, they have no concrete figures on how much health tourism costs the NHS. Also, this is a situation which cannot be solved unless the ID Cards are held by 100% of the population of the country, issued at the moment of birth and cancelled at the instant of death and are mandatory documents which must be carried at every single moment of the day, so that even if people were running from their burning houses they would all be carrying their ID cards with them. Until such a point the ID card scheme will not work for this aim. As it is, it will ensure a steady stream of work for the counterfeiters, if the problem is as acute as Blunko would have us believe.
*help protect people from identity theft - it can take the average victim 300 hours to put their records straight.
I wonder how they worked that one out. That is almost forty-three days, and what are they defining as 'putting the records straight', how long it takes to get new bank cards or passports? Even so, it's unlikely to be forty-three active days worth of effort. Unless the passport people go on strike again I suppose.
The press release then continues From October 2004, only holders of biometric visas will be able to enter the USA, so far I've only been able to find reports that the US is demanding Canadian passports to contain biometric data, not the whole world.
Public responses to the Government's consultation last year showed that 62 per cent of people are in favour of ID cards. This rose to 80 per cent in a survey of a representative sample of the population.
Have a look at The STAND website. The figure of 62% in favour has been achieved by ignoring everyone that emailed opposition through STAND. Now, STAND quotes the figures that the Home Office have given. They're accepting the views of 5000 people, and 4200 of which that expressed an opinion. Now, my maths is crap, but that works out as 2520 people in favour of ID cards. Now, assume the STAND site sent 5000 opinions, 96% of them would be 4800. That would mean that in total, there would be 30% in favour of cards and 69% against, a pretty ringing defeat there, especially considering the Home Office wasn't pretty vocal in telling people that this consultation was going ahead (see update).
As ever, I can only recommend you read the STAND report on ID Cards, if you do you'll have already made more of an effort than Government officials, then perhaps Fax Your MP and try and ensure they're on-side and against ID Cards, if they're Opposition MPs or rebellious Labour backbenchers you might like to point out the discrepancies in the numbers too, give them some ammo to help make Blunkett squirm. Genuine 'public support' has thus far been lukewarm, The Sun and The Daily Mail are keen as they think that it'll help stop these millions of illegal immigrants they imagine swarming into the country every night. The more vocal people are now, the greater chance that they'll swing round to support us later when the actual orders are made.
If you want an image, think of a black Labrador, licking your face. That's Sadie, licking you while her master David Blunkett's boot is grinding in to your face, forever.
UPDATE (13/11/03): According to a report in The Scotsman the Home Office have decided to ignore the STAND emails because it was "an electronic petition which is qualitatively different from ordinary responses from members of the public" according to the Home Office minister Beverley Hughes. However, as I've shown above, they HAVE ignored the STAND messages, purely because of the way it would affect the figures. Strangely, anyone who emailed them through STAND has become an unperson, which at least is good news for 5000 of us as unpersons don't need ID cards, we don't count as members of the British public who might be a tadge concerned about civil liberties erosions. It also shows the woeful IT ignorance of the Government, it was an identikit letter that was sent, not an e-petition...
The report also quotes the Association for Payment Clearing Services as being extremely doubtful about how good biometric systems are, having declined them themselves as not being advanced enough yet to work...
