All europeans have already a "European Health Insurance Card" And a credit-card format (as opposed to paper) Driver's Licence As you can see, the driver's licence has protection against forgery but it's not "biometric".
What would be so wrong with a European ID card, assuming it doesn't contain RFID chips like the new-format passports do?
Now, let me say that I am comfortable with ID cards because of habit (coming from Spain) but that I understand British opposition to introducing them. However, state-issued ID cards would solve the mess people have to go through to, say, open a bank account. A single, state-authenticated and forgery-proof document would suffice. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
I am not against ID documents per se. I am suspicious of the present climate surrounding and generating calls for new forms of ID document.
The ID discussion is sadly not about forgery proof documentation but is being used to redefine the realtionship between the state and individual in a negative way. That is my objection
Of course, the democratic control needs to be exercised and the current Labour government doesn't command enough trust for me to actually want them to have my data - and this is both on authoritarian instinct and on technical incompetence. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
I don't feel uncomfortable about the state having my data, in fact i feel it would be more worrying to think that the state didn't have my data. (although strangely comforting that they probably cant find it when they need it) A trely technicallly competent government would be a scary thing to behold. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
The best control is not give the state data, such as fingerprints, as a matter of course. To limit the state's capacity to exercise its monopoly.
