... and he's back! (with a politics rant)

Well, well I think the sizeable gap between weblog postings goes to show that I am not organised enough to both hold down employment of any kind and still find the time to do anything creative. It's too much hard work... still, I have been made aware that there at least four people who loyally check by at regular intervals in hope of fresh tidings, so I thought that I would surprise them.

Anywayz, over the last month or so I have been engaged on various projects which may or may not improve my lot, and I will be reflecting on these in imminent future postings. Right now, however, I shall be whinging on the subject of ID Cards.

As people may know, I have a proud history of fruitlessly campaigning for or against various issues which have included university tuition fees, war on Iraq and global poverty. Modest aims, then. But the whole ID card debate has entirely passed me by, and so now the whole issue has all been sewn up and is safely on the statute books before I've even had the chance to wave a placard in anger. I had to read The Guardian all the way from cover to cover to calm down.

But I don't just object to things because I enjoy going on protests (though that is a factor). My objections in this case are several-fold:

1. The CPS use a lovely great Oracle database called COMPASS to keep a record all past state prosecutions in the country. If the database did not only contain easy to search information about prosecution cases (the purpose for which it was designed), but also debt ratings, education and medical records and even mobile phone and vehicular GPS tracking information I'm sure there would be no end to the fun and games I could have looking up people that I know. I can't assume that everyone who uses databases is as conscientious as me, and even if they were, they could still accidentally end up using personal information in a database inappropriately, that is for reasons other than for that which it was collected. When you have all the info you need in a nice big database it is all to easy to cut corners and save time. The standard reply is that 'if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear'. But I have everything to fear about incompetent officials let loose on their Windows PCs. The technology to track citizens fairly accurately through their mobile phones, for instance, is here already and I can see the day where me and my mobile phone being in the wrong place at the wrong time could automatically make me a suspect and needlessly disrupt my life. Whereas the actual villain will have had the foresight to leave his phone at home on the day of the crime, thus creating an alibi and throwing the police off track. As the Information Commissioner says 'The primary aim of the government with this legislation should be to establish a scheme which allows people to reliably identify themselves rather than one which enhances its ability to identify and record what its citizens do in their lives.'
2. The government claims that the ID cards (and its associated database) will cut down benefit fraud by eliminating multiple identities. But doesn't every person in the UK have a unique National Insurance number for this very reason? I know that some people are assigned 'temporary NI numbers' but this is just because the Inland Revenue are slack.
3. Nobody even tries to claim that ID cards will be a cost-effective way to fight terrorism anymore. The London Transport bombers were carrying excellent, comprehensive ID but quite frankly it didn't stop them that much.
   
4. Most of all, I am consistently losing my wallet, debit cards, keys, whatever. New keys cost about ten pounds from the key cutters. New debit cards are free. The government has proclaimed that a new ID card passport will cost £93 - a suspiciously precise figure that was probably made up on the spot, in an effort to sound authentic. I predict that it will be way, way more than that (as do the LSE, who expect it to be closer to £300), so that everytime I lose my ID card (probably about 3 or 4 times a year), I will have to shell out for a new one. I don't need another thing to lose in my life. Particularly something that I am expected to keep on my person at all times.

With this in mind, I was pleased to see that, in a concession, the new cards will not be compulsory. However, it will not be possible to apply for a British passport without also applying for a card (they will be one and the same document). This means that if I maintain my protest I will never be able to leave the country again. Unless I use my Australian passport. Then I could leave, but maybe not come back... hmmm.