Archive for July, 2009

Union jackass

Posted at Friday, July 31st, 2009 by andrew

Alan Johnson’s unveiling of the design of the “voluntary” ID card for British citizens get a certain amount of attention in today’s press, much of it centring on the lack of a Union flag on the card. George Pascoe-Watson writes in The Sun:
Home Secretary Alan Johnson was slammed last night for axing the Union Flag [...]

UK’s national ID card unveiled

Posted at Thursday, July 30th, 2009 by andrew

The BBC reports:
Home Secretary Alan Johnson has unveiled the final design of the controversial national identity card.
The card will be offered to members of the public in the Greater Manchester area from the end of this year.
Ministers plan to launch the £30 biometric ID Card nationwide in 2011 or 2012 – but it will not [...]

Will MacNeil and Unit ask Where do they go? for Liberty

Posted at Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 by andrew

Digital Arts magazine reports the release of a short film on the threat posed by the government’s National Identity Register, made by Will MacNeil and Unit9 for Liberty:
“The striking images that Will MacNeil has created in this film should remind us all how fragile and precious our personal privacy is,” says Sabina Frediani, campaigns co-ordinator [...]

ID cards are a bureaucrat’s luxury

Posted at Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 by andrew

Henry Porter writes on the Guardian Comments is Free web site:
In a excellent pamphlet produced by the Centre for Policy Studies, advocating a new Great Reform Act, the author of Yes Minister, Sir Antony Jay, writes that we are “governed by an increasingly self-serving almost unaccountable political class who are even further out of touch [...]

I wouldn’t trust Google with my personal info

Posted at Monday, July 27th, 2009 by andrew

David Davis MP writes in The Times:
There is value in letting people nominate where their personal data is to be kept. Ownership, control, and “property rights” in the trail of online information that makes up our virtual identities should rest with each individual. That is the only way we can navigate the world of opportunity [...]

Search provided by Google