Identity Cards

Of course we should all have id cards. Passports, store cards and credit cards are, quite rightly, optional. The point of id cards as that it shows who we are and our entitlements (access to health service for example). The lack of id cards in the UK is one of the reasons we have problems with the black economy and criminality.

Some of us do have something to hide. I had two friends who were in witness protection - one is still alive. Another friend is on the run from an abusive step-father. I have several friends who are gay - so far that is legal in this country, but the number of countries in which it is a capital offence is rising.

People say if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear - as the Gestapo told the Jews.

I don't have a current passport; use a mailbox address as I live on the water but I do have a driving license (wrong address on it though). I have been asked for ID in the past - and whipped out a mirror - checked it and said - yep that's me. I'm not going to be supporting the introduction of ID cards anytime soon.

In other EU countries that have introduced the ID card, you don't need to carry it with you. You only need to show it as proof of identity, the same way as a passport, etc. Some people seem to think that if you introduce ID cards in this country you would have to carry it with you, which I would certainly object to. However, if you only need to show it to prove your identity, then that would be an easy way as an alternative to bringing a wad of utility bills and your passport to prove who you are.

Sorry, this wretched kindle has a mind of its own! cross out 'in the' and the comment should make sense!!!!

Vq, all the information you mention and more besides is already in the easily available, so all an ID card will do, is confirm who you are when requested, just like a passport. Any other info can be discovered by the click of a button, political affiliation, shopping habits, you name it, 'they'll' know it! So carrying a card certainly wouldn't bother me.

I already carry ID cards, but purely for my own safety. I have made and laminated my own to include name and address, medical history and next of kin with their mobile and work numbers. I have one in every bag and outdoor clothing pocket in case I get run over or taken ill when out and about. I have the same info on my phone ICE section, but realized that if it was locked there would be no access. I have also filled out a Police emergency details replacement for the old tax disc, details not visible from outside the car, which I read about on GN
I would therefore be happy for ID cards to be compulsory, I have nothing to hide.

I have nothing to hide but I don't want to carry an ID card. Why should I?

Who will decide what information is stored on the card? Name, address, date of birth, blood group, religion, political affiliation, tracker?

It would probably start with just the name, address, date of birth information but eventually more and more would be added on the grounds of security or the NHS or another pressing reason. Who will have the right to demand sight of it? What will happen if you don't carry it?

Anyone who has a bank card, a store card, a bus pass, etc. is already carrying identity - so that is most of us. The microchip will have details of our DOB, address, banking details, shopping and spending history and so on, depending on the card.

So those who think an official ID card might be an intrusion into some kind of personal privacy is living in cloud cuckoo land. All out personal details are already out there. How else does Tesco know to give me £5 off my favourite brand of if I buy 6 bottles, and the local garden centre is able to access my address?

I have no problem with carrying an ID card as it is just a shortened version of your passport and lighter to carry.
Cannot see why it should indicate your political views and internet history....or shoe preferences.....anymore than the main page of your passport!
In mainland Europe, ID cards are a part of daily life, and to me, it is no more a threat to civil liberties than needing your driver's licence to drive.
Interestingly, now we are heading for Brexit, would IDs still replace passports within Europe, as they do now for travel?

I have no problem with ID cards either, at least it would help with issues of health care entitlement. Of course there will also be those people who fake them.
My husband has long said the time is not far off when babies will be chipped and this will be a life long identity check.

I long advocated the carrying of ID cards. I can't see why people have an issue with it. Anyone who is, or has been, in the Armed Forces will already be used to carrying a variety of identity cards. Why would you think it should carry details about your politics and internet history, Ankers?

We are already knocking on the door of 1984, with nearly all of our movements being tracked on camera and our emails subjected to surveillance. Some would deny this, but I thought it highly suspicious when I mentioned a certain make of shoes to a friend in an email and almost immediately I get bombarded with shoe adverts! I can see this escalating to babies being chipped at birth! It beggars belief. Maybe I am exaggerating, I hope so. I would have no problem at all with ID cards. Living in France, we are obliged to carry our passports around with us anyway in case we ever get stopped.

Electronic chipping could be around the corner. Google are working on planting chips in your brain. Once they've sussed how the brain sends its "thought" messages, the infrastructure is all in place for us to be chipped!
Not sure I'd like anything that invasive, but I have no problem with an ID card.

We all already carry ID cards.

Is your religion put on there for instance?
Your politics?
Your internet history?

What if you change your mind or your ideas?
How will you get the ID changed?

Hate the idea.

That is what some groups want to happen, everyone with ID cards and microchipped.
Shudder.

The only people that could possibly object would be someone with something to hide.
When a Government goes rogue[I think people are seeing how easy that can happen, especailly nowadays], even in democracies, which side are you on? The "right" one, or the "wrong" one??

Some years ago, when travelling into the USA across the Canadian border, DH and I had a removable chip put in our passports. Apparently it was a trial so that people's movements could be monitored.

I don't think it was optional, but who was going to argue, we'd already been queueing for nealy an hour with no toilet facilities, no use of mobile phones and the car was in a pound being 'frisked'.

We weren't anyone special, everyone was treated in the same way! None of this happened when we drove back across to Canada.

I agree we should all carry an ID card when we lived abroad it was expected that you always carried it with you.

daphne ??

Maybe we could all be chipped - that would avoid the clutter!

I have never seen the problem with ID cards. How can carrying a card be a violation of civil rights? As thatbags has said we all carry some form of identification anyway

Most of us have ID card equivalents already: driving licences, passports. I wouldn't mind having yet another card that's called an ID card but it's one more to add to the card clutter. Modern life! ?

I agree. I wouldn't have any problem with them. The government already holds so much data on us, which it shares, so we might as well accept it and be transparent.