Cameron To Cut ID Cards And Identity Register?

Cameron has just said on BBC that things like the ID card system AND the Identity Register need to be cut.

Then he was asked about Tory plans to let private private companies have access to our medical records. Cameron sidestepped by saying this was part of a review that they were still to look at. No doubt they will actually carry on with that, but the BBC presenter failed to mention that this is already happening under New Labour anyway.

It would be ironic if the overwhelming need to cut public spending caused the demise of New Labour's police state plans.

More Nonsense from the Braindead Brigade

The Times reports that officials have 'floated the idea' of compelling all buyers of new mobile phones to register their details on a government database. This is, apparently, to combat (you've guessed it) terrorism and crime. Because, as any fule kno, crims love prepay phones because they're anonymous, so the government doesn't know what they're up to. Except in the case of the Omagh bombers, where they were tracking two of them via their mobiles but still did nothing to stop them blowing up lots of people.

The idea is based on the IMEI number of each phone, not the SIM. This is programmed into the hardware and can, supposedly, be changed. Free software is available if you want to do this - which you might, just out of bloody-mindedness. Be warned, though, because changing the IMEI number of your own phone is ILLEGAL in the UK.

If you don't fancy the idea of having this extra layer of surveillance imposed on you, then you can keep on using your existing phone or only use old or recycled ones. Or perhaps not even bother with one at all.

Don't forget that soon all the details of all your phone calls (not the content - not yet, anyway), mobile, landline and internet, plus all your internet usage, will be logged and stored automatically. See my previous post on this.

Have a nice day.

Light Touch For Them, Heavy Hand For The Rest Of Us

While Gordon Brown backtracks furiously on his 'light touch' approach to the finance system, the rest of us continue to receive the heavy hand of his Stalinist practices when it comes to the ID card, National Register project.

The writer Cory Doctorow (Canadian-born therefore a Commonwealth citizen, UK resident, married to a British citizen and now father of a British child) is one of the first Johnny Foreigners to have to carry an ID card. Read his own response here.

Foreigners first, then airport workers and teachers, then students, then the rest of us.

Unions Oppose ID Card Scheme

The TUC has pledged to oppose ID cards and the National Identity database. About time. Probably the first significant move against New Labour's Stasi state, since what's needed is organisation, awareness and action; which is harder to achieve with individuals or disparate groups.

David Cameron, Leader in Waiting, has already pledged his opposition both to the ID cards scheme AND the National Identity database and said he will scrap them. Whether he will in fact do this when he's in power is another thing, of course, so he needs to be aware that there will be trouble if he doesn't keep his word.