Media Articles

National campaign website. Good resources for
opposing ID Cards and the database state

On the cost of ID cards -
Observer: £300 per person and rising...

The technology won't work -
John Lettice in 'The Register'.

A key feature of the planned ID card will be biometric identifiers.
For background information, a Privacy International report
and a BBC article on trials are recommended.

Biometrics questioned - Silicon.com article.

'A hacker's paradise' - New Statesman
(NB you can read one free article per day)

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett boasted that
there will be massive benefits to society, including
combating terrorism. Why not read the Privacy International
report (PDF file) on the actual experience?.

July 7th, 2005 - fear used to sell ID cards.

And for those with a sense of humour, a Home Office
survey (260k PDF file) had classic clangers like:
'73% support the Government's proposals to introduce
an ID card scheme... but: 'the question [on support]
was asked without any reference to how the scheme
might be implemented or the costs..' (p5/p17)

'Demand for the ID cards scheme is strong' (p3), but:
'we have defined 'demand' as 'potential demand'...
there is no guarantee in reality that they
[respondents] will do so [take up ID cards].' (p13).

Postscript: Numbers have never been the Home Office's
strong point. They criticised a YouGov survey of 2,000+ people
by the pressure group Migrationwatch (see Daily Mail, 3.4.06)
as a "small fraction of the UK population", but their
own hyped survey covered only 983 'over-16s' plus a top-up
sample of 126 parents with young children. (ie 1,109 people).

Date this page updated: 14 April 2006