The Creep becomes a rush to add features
Quite contrary to what ministers have assured parliament and the public during the legislative and propaganda process, the Home Office is planning on adding much much more information on each of us to the national identity register than the fifty items they cheerily listed in the Bill, reports The Register.
Within a month of passing, the following items of personal data are being considered for inclusion, amongst others:
- Medical records
- Tax details
- Details of your children – to assist “tracing” them
- Council tax debt
- Confirming whether or not you have voted
This all comes from a desire to merge the plans of the now abandoned Citizen Information Project – something many people viewed as the governments “plan B” for getting the register in place. The Citizen Information Project also allows for widespread sharing of the information held on the NIR – none of it with your consent.
With the Identity Cards Act in place what can people do to resist this unprecedented prying into our lives? NO2ID is asking supporters (and anyone else) to renew their passports in May. This will both save you a few quid (as transforming passports into ID cards will significantly inflate the price in the near future), give you a few years where you aren’t counted at every turn by the Home Office, and send a message to the bureaucrats that we are not queuing up to be branded like cattle. See the Renew For Freedom website for more information.
April 28th, 2006 at 17:16
With the Immigration/Police computer datbases in meltdown I just can’t stop laughing at Charles (Mr ID Card) Clarkes discomfort. I bet the public are bursting with confidence with the proposed Mega database.
May 11th, 2006 at 19:17
Are we really surprised? We shouldn’t be. I’ve said all along this is the real reason the UK government wants to introduce ID cards. With so much information on the British population the cards really will be come another, tighter form of social control – a bit like a short dog’s leash.
May 11th, 2006 at 19:18
[...] n has said it publicly, and Phil Booth of NO2ID points out that this is another example of NIR function creep: “To take an identity register which you’ve said is purely for a very s [...]
May 12th, 2006 at 12:15
I find Harriet Harman’s support of ID cards and the register of additional personal information very interesting. I seem to remember reading that when in opposition she came under very close scrutiny by MI5 for both her activities and those of her (former?) husband by way of trade union activism.
One would think she’d had a crop full of being watched. Strange creaturs these new labour types. Perhaps this is bitter revenge on her part?