New head on the block
According to Michael Cross in the Guardian, Ian Watmore – former UK managing director of the consultancy Accenture, and the UK’s new head of e-government – is a fan of ID cards. He certainly has some eccentric views on civil liberties:
“We all know there are a zillion ID numbers in use today. Is it appropriate to begin to think about a new identifier for people?” One way to tackle concerns about civil liberties might be to separate the oft-connected words privacy and confidentiality, he said. “You can invade my privacy as government, while holding that information securely.”
You might be able to invade Mr Watmore’s privacy “as government” – after all, he’s (supposed to be) a public servant – but you certainly have no right to invade the privacy of tens of millions of law-abiding British citizens!
Let’s hope the chopper falls sooner, rather than later…
