http://freedomsyndicate.com/fair0000/latimes00083.htmlBritish ID card program meets resistance
The cards push Britain closer to being a 'database state,' critics say. Even a voluntary program has few takers in a nation where many already feel under the constant eye of Big Brother.
By Henry Chu
December 21, 2009
Reporting from Manchester, England
....For skeptics, the ID cards represent one more intrusion on their privacy, yet another government attempt to keep tabs on a citizenry that's already among the most monitored on Earth, thanks to the countless cameras mounted in public places.
As repositories of biometric data and potentially other kinds of personal information, national ID cards push Britain closer to being a "database state," critics say. It might seem like just a big bother now, but it could easily turn into Big Brother later. Fierce opposition has already forced the ruling Labor Party to water down the ID plan since it was conceived several years ago. Once envisaged as mandatory, the cards are now being issued on a strictly voluntary basis for British citizens. They're also being marketed as a convenient tool for consumers and travelers rather than as the powerful weapon against illegal immigration and terrorism that officials had touted.
But these concessions do not satisfy civil libertarians who insist the program should be abolished. It has already proved to be a colossal waste of time and money, they say, and still harbors sinister potential for government nosing around in the lives of ordinary people.
"It changes the relationship between the state and the individual," said James Elsdon-Baker, an activist with the organization NO2ID. "Everyone in a free democracy has a certain degree of their private life that they'd like to keep to themselves. It removes that privacy."The program is being rolled out in stages. Chilly, wind-swept Manchester, once a symbol of the industrial revolution that helped transform Britain from a small nation into a mighty empire in the 19th century, was chosen as the pilot city.
Since Nov. 30, hundreds of people have shown up at a nondescript office building in the city center to have their fingerprints taken and to provide other personal details required to obtain a card. Officials say that more than 1,000 cards have been issued, and appointments at the registry office are booked through part of January.....
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