pledgebank / no2id: refuse to have an ID card + pay 10 quid to the legal defense fund

Former Member

FYI, and apologies if it was brought up elsewhere.

http://www.pledgebank.com/refuse
I'm aware that many people are in favour of ID cards. I'm not. Neither are these people.

Former Member

im considering doing this....

Former Member

Even if you happen to be in favour of ID cards generally this controlling joke of a scheme must be opposed.

This Bill's effect will be to further diminish our civil liberties. Do you want the Government to control you, to know where you are all the time and everything you do publicly? They may be able to do some of this already but at the moment the inefficiencies of it all are actually one of the best protections we have. The National Identity Register has been deliberately designed to harvest as much information about us and as in an inconvienient a way as possible.

Secondly, do you want to pay £300 for this, either directly or through taxation? Would you be happy knowing that vulnerable people will have even less money to spend because of some politician's deranged fixation with centralised databases?

Thirdly, the risks associated with the introduction and administration of the National Identity Register are enormous. What happens if the NIR goes down? What happens if an authorised insider abuses the system, since they'd have an enormous incentive to do so since every scrap of information about your identity will be on there. 'ID cards' will not stop terrorism (Madrid proved that), it will not stop most crime and it won't even do anything to stop the vast amount of fraud - benefit or otherwise. It will only serve to inconvenience innocent people. 'Function creep' is a very real possibility, and none of the concerns surrounding it have actually been addressed.

Not only will you have to trust that this Government will be benevolent but any and all future Governments will too. Fancy taking that risk? I don't.

All of the Government's arguments for bringing in 'ID cards' and the NIR have been lies, misrepresentations or simply not good enough reasons for spending billions of pounds of taxpayers' cash on this white elephant.

Former Member

^^^ Good post.

Former Member

Labour's Poll Tax?

And it may end up in the same place. The Poll Tax didn't end because of riots in the street or a campaign of mass civil disobedience, but because a small minority refused to pay. And it was the small number of refusniks who made it unworkable.

I see the same with the ID card. It only works if everyone (or virtually everyone) has one. Even if only 5% refuse to get one it becomes unworkable.

Former Member

NQA wrote:

Labour's Poll Tax?

And it may end up in the same place. The Poll Tax didn't end because of riots in the street or a campaign of mass civil disobedience, but because a small minority refused to pay. And it was the small number of refusniks who made it unworkable.

It wasn't, it was the rather late realisation that they had cocked up. Is Council Tax any better? Wait till the new valuations bite then we'll see some squealing from the little piggies.

I see the same with the ID card. It only works if everyone (or virtually everyone) has one. Even if only 5% refuse to get one it becomes unworkable.

"Ve have ways of making you have one whether you like it or not!"

Former Member

Hidrick wrote:

"Ve have ways of making you have one whether you like it or not!"

Indeed, which is why a legal defence fund is being set up........

So that those who are prepared to stand up to the bullies can be supported

Former Member

If events of the past year are an example - the Sandhurst things last week, purple powder thrown at the PM, anti-hunt protests on the floor of the house, a van being driven into Windsor - then the Govt seems to think that security for these high profile 'targets' is nothing to worry about.

Yet, they maintain that there is enough of a threat that everyone should be forced to carry ID cards.

Hmm... something doesn't add up.