Stand up and be counted
Not much time left – the government are getting ready to steamroller the ID card bill through parliament. That means that each and every one of us will be made to go to a police station to be fingerprinted and possibly retina scanned so that our every movement, purchase and library borrow will eventually be recorded in a centralised database (which can then be sold to the highest bidder should the government ever find itself short of a few bob).
What’s more, you’ll have to shell out in the region of 80 quid for the privilege.
There’s a petition online. Unlike most online petitions, the last iteration of this one did actually make a (little) bit of a difference. It only takes a minute to defend your civil liberties.
For those of you who may be thinking “if I’ve done nothing wrong I’ve nothing to hide,” please bear in mind that people in 1930s Germany had done nothing wrong either. Tony Blair may well be able to guarantee that HIS government won’t abuse the database but I’m pretty sure he can’t vouch for all future governments.
ID Cards did nothing to prevent a terrorist attack in Spain. The immigration problem in Spain is so bad they’ve just had to declare an amnesty, just so they know who’s in the country. Despite having an ID card scheme. The scheme will do nothing to improve your way of life. All it will do is provide others with ingenious new ways to curtail your civil liberties.
The petition is at http://www.no2id-petition.net/ – *please* give it some thought.
