Dr John Reid writes in that Labour party propaganda mouthpiece; the Groan’s twaddle is cheap about identity cards. Everything he utters is the same, tired, thoroughly reprehensible, throughly refuted bollocks that Big Blunkett came out with five years ago.
The world is getting smaller. The population is becoming more mobile. And our pace of life is faster than ever. In the click of a button we can book a flight to the other side of the world, wake up there the next day and email a photo home to prove it.
So fucking what?
This technological progress, and the criminal activity that comes with it, has already affected our traditional relationships based on trust. In a modern society we need to prove our identity, whether in applying for a job, crossing borders or opening a bank account. Our own, unique, identity is inexorably becoming our most precious possession. But when so much of this is now done remotely, how can we be sure who we are interacting with?
Er, we were telling you that crims will always be catching up with technology, so you don’t need to tell us. And when it comes to trust, you can be damn sure I know who I don’t trust; some fucking self-serving, lying bastard politician with an authoritarian agenda. You, for example. My identity is so precious, that I have no intention of giving it to you to fuck with. How do I make sure that I know who I’m dealing with? I use common sense – you know, that quality that you bastards have tried so hard to undermine with your nanny state, seeking to coddle us from the real world. I am perfectly capable of making the necessary checks, of looking after myself and keeping my identity safe. Keeping it off some leaky, inefficient government database being one such example.
Identity theft now costs the country more than £1.7bn a year.
The number of incidents has gone up by 500% in eight years. And multiple or false identities are used in terrorist-related activity. We already know that one of the 9/11 hijackers used 30 false identities to obtain credit cards and $250,000 of debt.
The 9/11 terrorists were legally entitled to be in the country. Identity cards would have done nothing to stop them, just as they did nothing to stop the Madrid bombers. We’ve been over this before. Shouting “bogeyman” over and over does not an argument make. There have been less instances of Terrorism in recent years than when the IRA were active on the UK mainland. We didn’t sacrifice our liberty then, I’ll be damned if we should do it now. What has risen exponentially is the level of screeching government hysteria used in a fraudulent attempt to scare the pants off us and in the process con us into handing over our most precious asset, our identities.
With such uncertainty it is vital we have a system to safeguard the most valuable thing we own – our identity.
…By keeping it from you. I, as your employer need to know who you are and what you are up to. You, as my employee should do the fuck as you are told. You do not need to know who I am and you do not need to know what I am up to.
This is not about control, Big Brother or the loss of liberty.
That’s exactly what it is.
It is about enabling the public to feel safe, secure and confident in their daily lives. As our society changes, so do our liberties. We no longer expect to be able to smoke at our desks or drive without a seatbelt. In many areas the state has clearly defined our rights and our responsibilities, to enable liberty and freedom. Identity is one such area.
Freedom and security are not tradeable items. Comparing trading our liberties with smoking and driving without a seatbelt is plain nonsense (although I oppose both examples of government interference in our lives). You do not enable liberty by taking it away. Only a complete moron would believe that utter fuckwittery, you Stalinist cunt.
Secure identity cards, incorporating fraud-proof biometric identification like fingerprints, will benefit every individual. They will make travel easier, proof of age more convenient and proof of identity more secure. And they will give you peace of mind when dealing with your bank or shopping online. They will protect that increasingly precious asset – our identity.
There is no such thing as a fraud-proof identification system; biometric or otherwise. I already trade safely over the Internet; I don’t need and certainly am not prepared to accept government interference in that trading. If you believe the pile of horseshit you’ve written here, I have a nice little beach-side condo in the middle of the Kalahari that might interest you.
In addition, businesses will also be able to vet new employees more effectively, provide services more efficiently and carry out internet transactions more securely. This will result in faster services for customers and substantial savings for businesses.
Oh, I see… I’m supposed to give you my identity to make life easier for businesses, am I? Well, fuck them and fuck you. It’s my identity, not yours, not theirs. If they cannot manage, poor dears, without you stealing my identity, they’ll just have to manage without my business, won’t they?
And for society as a whole, the prevention of crime, the pre-emption of terrorism and the protection of liberty will have untold benefits.
Bollocks! I’m growing weary of this guff now, you can tell. This is simply a piece of ZANU Lab propaganda repeated ad nauseum in the hope that someone, somewhere will believe it to be true. It isn’t. ID cards will not do anything to deter terrorism, and, indeed, Reid’s predecessor, the erstwhile Safety Elephant was forced to admit that ID cards would not have prevented the London bombings. ID cards are a control freak’s wet dream. The only beneficiary of such a scheme is the government and the busybody civil servants who have been whispering in the ears of successive home secretaries for the past fifty years since the repeal of the last ID cards.
Every civilised country is recognising these benefits. Out of 27 EU member states 24 already have identity cards. If we do not take this step we risk exploitation, fraud and terrorism.
Double bollocks! Evidence please? How, exactly will your leaky, inefficient (late and over budget – don’t think we didn’t notice, because we did) database do this? The only exploitation going on here is you attempting to exploit us, you arsehole.
As home secretary it is my duty to protect the public and secure our future. A large part of this responsibility depends on an effective scheme to safeguard identities. Only the state can provide such a universal system, define the standards and be accountable for it.
This duty does not involve stealing my identity.
There will be people who say we shouldn’t do it. But I believe the benefits are indisputable
Really? Perhaps you ought to take your fat head out of your equally fat arse and read the wealth of dispute in the comments on this thoroughly mendacious article.
Others will say we can’t do it. But we have the capabilities to deliver this scheme.
Doesn’t mean that you have to.
As one commenter, whathavetheydone, pointed out:
Quite frankly Mr Reid, you have no right to know who I am and you have no right to know any of my details. I am a citizen by right, not by permission.
If I need to use public services then I can prove my ID to the providers of that service without you knowing anything about it.
Quite. My body belongs to me. My identity is mine and mine alone. The only person – I repeat only person – who has any responsibility for protecting my identity from thieves and scammers is me. I neither need nor desire government management of my identity. I do not report to you; you have no authority to manage me. I did not vote for you and you have no mandate to steal my identity and “manage” it for me. I have not, nor ever will grant you permission to do so. Indeed, given our relationship, if there is any managing to be done, it is I who should be managing you. Frankly, if that was the case, I would be castigating myself for making such a piss-poor job of it. Indeed, given your penchant for mendacity, lying and incompetence, I would have disciplined and sacked you long since. However did you nasty little Stalinists ever get so out of control? Maybe an ASBO is in order?
What you propose is identity theft on a grand scale. That it is being done under the auspices of legislation does not mitigate the immorality of what you are doing, it does not make it any less theft merely because it is sanctioned by the state. Theft is still theft and as you plan to take from me something that is not yours and that you have no right to take, it remains theft.
Your incompetence, your lies and your arrant duplicity when justifying blatantly illiberal legislation is an affront to civil society and the willingness of the Groan to indulge your falsehoods is a disgrace; but I expect nothing less.