UK Government's Endless Lies Over ID Cards

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UK Government's Endless Lies Over ID Cards
Stealth surveillance state agenda revealed by declassified papers
Steve Watson Infowars.net Monday, April 9, 2007
Yet more declassified papers have emerged that prove that the British Government has consistently attempted to mislead the public over ID cards and retention of biometric information. A second set of papers also shows that the government has embarked on a huge programme of fingerprinting school children without Parliamentary debate or oversight.

As reported by the (Mail on Sunday) yesterday, Whitehall papers, which the government has fought for two years to suppress, disclose that Blair's government has always intended to force the public to sign up to the programme, despite consistently stating that the cards, and the national identity register containing people's names, addresses, fingerprints and other information, would be 'on a voluntary basis'.

The papers, released under the Freedom Of Information Act, state that from 2014 - Year 7 of the project - 'The identity card scheme is now compulsory'.

The papers also confirm that the government's projected figures for ID cards cutting benefit fraud are based not on any facts but on pure guesswork.

Former Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten, who successfully fought to get the internal documents published, said: "They show Ministers had no basis to claim the cards would combat benefit fraud, that from the very beginning the cards were going to be compulsory and that Ministers were consistently not telling the truth about their true intentions." The latest documents come swiftly on the back of a (previous set of government pappers) that stated “Compulsion will be triggered once 80% take-up is achieved in [the first quarter of] 2019... It is assumed that, following compulsion, a 100% registration will be achieved two years later.”

Last month a government official in charge of the scheme revealed that anyone who attempts to resist the ID card and database system in the UK will (never be able to leave the country).

James Hall, the official in charge of the supposedly-voluntary scheme, said the Government would allow people to opt out - but in return they must "forgo the ability" to have a travel document.

This constitutes another gross untruth on the part of the government given that a supposed ("opt out" clause was promised) as demanded by the Lords in order for the ID cards bill to pass Parliament.

In a further dereliction of duty the government plans not to keep your biometric information safe as promised, but instead (intends to sell access to personal information) stored on the database to banks and other private companies, for around 60p a time, in order to finance the scheme which is expected to run into the billions according to studies by leading economic experts.

A top firm of headhunters is already working for the government, seeking a consultancy expert to market the benefits of the database to the private sector.

The government was again exposed on the biometric issue when it was also revealed last month that children as young as 11 will have their fingerprints taken and stored, even though the ID card bill specifically only applies to adults above the age of 16.

The London Times reported:

The leaked Home Office plans show that the mass fingerprinting will start in 2010, with a batch of 295,000 youngsters who apply for passports.
The Home Office expects 545,000 children aged 11 and over to have their prints taken in 2011, with the figure settling at an annual 495,000 from 2014. Their fingerprints will be held on a database also used by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to store the fingerprints of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers.

(yet more documents have been released today) under FOIA that show the government has long been engaged in a back door program to collect the fingerprints of children in schools all over the country, in many cases without the knowledge of parents.

The mail reports that Freedom of Information data obtained by the Tories reveals a further 4.9 million sets of prints could now be added to school computers after the vast majority of local education authorities sanctioned the practice.

Critics say it is part of a 'softening-up' exercise to condition children to accept a creeping surveillance society. They also point to the danger of identity theft, if hackers manage to access school databases.

Phil Booth, of the NO2ID campaign, said: "This is an abrogation of moral duty. Schools should be teaching children to look after their biometric information.

"They are going to grow up in a world where keeping it secure is enormously important, yet they are being taught that it is OK to hand it over for the most trivial of matters. It is a disgrace."

As of 2009 anyone who applies for a passport in Britain will also be issued with an ID card, for which they must also provide fingerprints, biometric details such as a facial scan and a wealth of personal details - including second homes, driving licence and insurance numbers.

The government has been caught lying and misleading on the ID issue so frequently that it is now clear that anything they say about it cannot be trusted and is usually the exact opposite of the reality of the situation.

speaking of biometric information, I have an idea as to how one could falsify one's fingerprints temporarily for a few days and easily be able to falsify the same prints at a later date if needed while still being able to destroy the evidence fake fingerprints were being made, and it uses tools that even a bum off the street has access to

too bad I probably won't ever benefit from it if it works

Personally I would rather emigrate than have to tolerate this.

I'd like to think that with Dictator Blairs impending departure (only 10 years too late) we might see these proposals put on the fire where they belong, but I don't trust Gordon Browns integrity to make the changes and bring in the services that the British people actually want. Nor do I hold out much hope for David Camerons limp opposition, or the SAGA holiday escapee on the LibDems.

What concerns me about these ID cards is the frequently mentioned possibility of Iris scans. I have a number of eye operations due in the next few years to rectify issues caused by cataract operations as a baby. These operations will damage and modify the shape, structure and possibly even the colour of my iris. Which could make matters interesting.

Anyone fancy creating a seperate colony on some random Orkney Island?

Sounds like a plan, but can't we make it the Scilly Isles or something? Much warmer climate

Fair point.

Tresco is nice down there, I suggest we invade that.

When i took my drivers written test i was thinking about putting glue on my fingertips . But i was too nervous about the test i'd forgotten about it. Good thing i did when the guy took my fingerprints he grabbed my hand

This Labour government is despicable. The whole lot should be rounded up and imprisoned for life. If not for genocide then for treason. Pity corporal punishment is no longer used because they deserve to be lined up against a wall and shot.

Agreed. They are traitors.

I think that ID cards should only be used for immigrants who have been in Britain for less than 5 years, and then withdrawn. They should use passwords, and photos, and be used as an effective buffer to keep track of potential terrorist activity. No fingerprints. I do not trust the current administration to use ID cards properly. They could use fake biometric data against their opponents.

Thats a whole lot of article to say "They are making ID cards compulsory". I like the idea of ID cards although I wouldnt exactly use cards.. I would think of something else for people to carry for proof of identification. There is a lot of potential for having great systems of knowing exactly who a person is and is especially needed online where you cant see the person you talk to.

There is no sacrifices to be made here but only potential benefits to our country.

Voluntary cards with no demands for biometric information and national databases like Citizencard? Sure. The hugely expensive and illiberal mess forced on us by this government? No way.

There is always big expenses in setting up something new on an international scale.. I know government makes it a lot more expensive than it should be because they are pretty much useless at everything but i would rather have a centralized database with information on me than multiple databases to deal with different things.

If you would like to put all your information in one giant database then that's your prerogative. I much prefer the idea of loads of different databases: makes it more difficult to defraud people and you can't watch people's every move all the time.

But more databases does mean more people have access to information about you and more places to try get access. It would definitely cost less to have all information in one place and they can focus more on security.

People seem to think that they will be watched in everything they do but really you will just be statistics on a computer. It does not matter to the government your details like the color your hair is or your favourite foods. All information about a single person is quite trivial but having the details to hand about all 80million or so people would help us to know important things about the health of our country and where to fix it.

It would be nice if that were the case but it's more about how much you trust central government with that kind of information. I see private information about myself as being nobody's business but my own. And who exactly will have access to this database? Thousands of people, otherwise it won't be able to function - from contractors to civil servants, government officials, emergency services, insurance companies and all the rest. It won't be secure and will be open to abuse - either from direct hacking, through intimidation and bribery or through nasty officials wanting it for their own ends. If you give someone capacity to watch over people, 90 people out of 100 will use it. It's called human nature.

But your information is far from secure anyway.. this has potential to be much more secure than the current systems in place. By making the system automated to give out the very minimum of information to the people who genuinely need it like your doctors.

My idea is that with everyone in the database for anyone to get access to your information should require their own ID to be taken and logged so a history of people who accessed your details should be freely available to you. Any person in the whole country should be refused access without ID to the database so keeping track of who should and who shouldnt be looking at your details would be easy. But this is just my idea and I really doubt the government would do something like this but I see it as the best solution.

I think everyone here including myself would like to know who exactly looks at information about ourselves.

I would like that too. But I don't think the ID system is the right way of going about it. In some other European countries that have databases there is more provision for the public to find out who uses information about them. But the UK system offers no such protection. I believe it will lead to the State and the people who oversee it becoming more secretive about their activities and not less.