Following a roadshow by Home Office Ministers in Edinburgh, Grant Stott of the Scotsman comments on the surveillance society and he doesn’t have a problem with it. Now I’m perfectly happy to engage with people who have thought the issue through, read the impending bill and understand its potential impact – and still think it’s a good idea. However, Mr Stott, clearly hasn’t.
“The ID pass debate is a very contentious one and, to be honest, one I don’t have a problem with. Actually, that’s a lie. I do have an issue with it. Where about in my wallet should I keep it? Should I put it beside my cashline card or gym membership? I think you’ll probably be able to tell which one is used more often.
But I really don’t think they’d be a bad thing. Think about the fun we could have at parties showing each others photos! It would be as much fun as we have at the airport when we all compare those dodgy passport snaps.”
This buffoonery reduces the debate to a level that misses the issues completely. Let’s be clear here, we are not talking about a plastic card; we are talking about a national database that will provide a unique key that identifies every individual. A key that will link records in one government database with those in another – an audit trail that follows employment, purchases, GP and hospital visits, and tax, driving and criminal records. Indeed, given the enabling nature of the legislation, anything a future Home Secretary wants it to link to. And Grant Stott thinks it’s a funny joke, one where he compares his portrait with those of his equally shallow and hard of thinking acquaintances.
He repeats the same fallacious arguments propounded by our equally buffoonish Home Secretary and Prime Minister.
“I don’t think there’s much of an argument, when you think about it the choices we have are; stopping the cameras in the name of our human rights, or not being able to freely walk down our main thoroughfares at night.”
No, these are not choices we have to make. Security and liberty are not tradeoffs. If the streets are unsafe, then more effective policing is in order. CCTV cameras do not make our society safer any more than ID cards and the national database will. CCTV cameras simply drive the criminals elsewhere – where there are no CCTV cameras. It isn’t difficult to work out. Clearly, though, it is for Mr Stott who appears to have swallowed Home Office newspeak hook, line and sinker.
And then the prize nincompoop comes up with this:
“Similarly with ID cards. Yeah, they could be a pain in the proverbial, having to show them at the most inopportune moments, but if you’ve not done anything wrong, then you shouldn’t really have anything to worry about!”
For crying out loud! How many times do we have to tolerate fools repeating this tired old mantra? Everyone has something that they wish not to share. We may not know what it is. The Jews in Germany during the late nineteen twenties didn’t realise that their ethnic origins were something they would need to conceal. In a more mundane situation, we all choose to keep parts of our lives private – unless Mr Stott wishes to share his bank details, PIN numbers, national insurance number, reasons for visiting his GP, home address, telephone number and the log on details to his internet account would be nice, too.
That Mr Stott is willfully ignorant is bad enough – that a newspaper such as the Scotsman should give credence to his ignorance is bordering on the criminal.
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