It's a question of trust

Well, we are informed that the government is minded to log all ID card usage:

The Home Office has tried to assure us that David "Big" Blunkett's plan to impose compulsory National Identity Cards on innocent British citizens is not a threat to privacy. Yesterday that argument was finally blown out of the water.

The Guardian reports that ID Card usage will be tracked centrally. Stephen Harrison, the head of the Home Office's identity card policy unit, admitted yesterday that the Government is "minded" to log every single ID Card usage and store the data centrally.

For me the debate about ID cards is one of trust. When having to make my mind up about whether I support the idea of them or not I ended up asking myself some very simple questions.

Can you see any benefit in ID cards?
Do you trust the current government?
Can you be sure that future governments will be trustworthy?

I answered yes to the first and no to the second and third.

I answered yes to the first because I could imagine operational circumstances where a policeman for instance may be able to (given the time and inclination) extract a valid identification card from an individual who is in fact a criminal.

Further to this, in circumstances where carrying an ID card became compulsory I could imagine certain aspects of a policeman's job becoming easier than they are at present.

For me, however, the answer to the other two questions were critical. So critical in fact as to effectively make it impossible for me to consider the risk of introducing ID cards as one currently worth taking.

For me it's all about trust in the state and I don't just mean in the current version of the state as a Blair led, Blunkett employing incarnation of Labour. I mean the state as it will manifest itself in the future because we all know that once introduced, ID cards are likely never to be withdrawn.

We are rapidly approaching "make your mind up time". It is trust that is the real dividing line between the pro and anti ID card camps and I don't think that anywhere near enough people on the streets of Britain have asked themselves the questions that need to be asked.

Posted by John at March 23, 2004 02:48 PM | TrackBack