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ID CARDS

Down with Identity Cards and other "Big Brother" state oppression!


Let's look at this rationally and realistically and see what the government establishment are really up to with their devious plan. It's important to see past the guff and political spin and understand the real motives behind a so-called ID CARD scheme. As surely as a predatorial animal has the aim of hunting down its prey, the government's aim is to enslave people and to control them as completely as can be done. They will stop nothing short of the absolute enslavement of the will of every human spirit. The ID CARD scheme is one step on the way towards that ultimate goal to be absolute leaders over a race of meek sheeplike people who will comply with their every demand.

I don't say this lightly, and I know that as a paranoid I run the risk of being bumped off just for saying this, but They are out to get us! Any kind of individuality of self-assertion we have is something They want to crush.

There is a spiritual dimension to this, because your Self / Soul / Identity is something specific to YOU, and if you sell it off cheap to the government, they own you, rather than you owning yourself. The only person who has your Identity is YOU. Let's keep it that way!

FEEBLE EXCUSES

Various feeble excuses for the introduction of an Identity Card scheme have been asserted by various politicians making proclamations with fine words that if spoken by a lawyer would sway any court regardless of any truth or otherwise.

The favourite fashionable excuse in the zero zeros decade has been "It'll stop terrorism". However in a hypothetical survey, nine out of ten terrorists who showed a preference would say would be happy to have an ID Card scheme, for various good terrorist reasons: 1. Terrorists don't mind ID Cards and are happy to die the same with or without an ID Card. 2. ID Cards give terrorists a valid ID which completely fools security. 3. ID Cards oppress the ordinary folk and so it shows the terrorists are winning already!

Another laughable excuse has been "It'll stop fraud". Actually it would give fraudsters an easy way in. Security is so poor anyway it would be like having a key under a flower pot, except that with the ID Cards it would be that the flower pot had an official crown stamp on it to indicate which pot had the key under it. In contrast, what really stops fraud is common sense! Use it or lose it. See ID Theft and How to Prevent It

You may have heard "If you've nothing to hide, why are you afraid of the ID Card scheme?". Well, equally, if you've nothing to hide, why don't you offer guided tours of your house to burglars?! If you've nothing to hide, why not televise your bedroom? Answers: Personal security, personal privacy, etc. And on the "If you've nothing to hide" idea, maybe the government would care to back that up by having "nothing to hide" in the state secrets in their Secret Service? No? Answer: They don't want their enemies to know about their secrets. Fair enough, so maybe you don't want your enemies to know your secrets!

As for "It'll make the paperwork easier", the way to achieve that is to get rid of bureaucracy, not introduce more problems!

THE PREVIOUS ATTEMPT TO IMPOSE AN ID CARD SCHEME IN THE UK

Under the dictatorship of Poll Tax Maggie, there was a plan to introduce an ID Card scheme. Those of us with better than average observation skills noticed the curious coincidence that it was at the same time that a Poll Tax database was being introduced, and at the same time as a Football Identity Card schemes was being introduced, and at the same time as a DOG CHIP SCHEME was being introduced. Surgical insertion of silicon chips into dogs was made out to be unrelated, but I can see what the devious plan was. The first step would have been to set up the Poll Tax, and then from the experimental Football Identity Card scheme (excuse = to stop hooliganism), the government would have forced the compulsory carrying of ID Cards and then it would only have been a few years before they would have forced the compulsory insertion of "dog chips" into humans. That would have made people very easy to keep a track of, and then it would have been very easy for the government to make any dissidents "disappear". (dissidents are anyone who doesn't agree with the government viewpoint. Other words for them: trouble makers, terrorists, etc). Fortunately people could SMELL the problem at a distance and the dictatorship was deposed before it could develop into the full-blown thousand year Reich.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

It's important to know who the enemy are. It's not ALL governments who are the problem. Some are not so bad as others. You can spot if a government is starting to become an oppressive dictatorship by a few clues. Are they invading other countries? Are they setting up concentration camps? Are they introducing stupid laws? Are they making pacts with other expansionist powers? Are they trying to introduce tighter control over the individual? If not, then you don't need to worry about it for now, but if they are, then do you have an escape plan, or some idea of how to subvert their evil aims, set up a resistance movement, etc? A few good contacts are at the Libertarian page.

A HYPOTHETICAL CAMPAIGN OF SOLIDARITY

With the recent (2006) Identity Cards scheme in the UK, most of the people are not fooled into believing the government propaganda. There is a huge undercurrent of discontent in the country, not only about the ID Cards but also about various naff Nanny State laws being introduced. But in Britain there is a tendency to hold back from having dramatic shows of public opinion. Even when there is a big protest, for example the huge crowds politely marching on the streets in an anti-war campaign, it is adeptly hushed up and almost completely hidden on the media.

So, here's a possible way of protesting without too much fuss, on your own property. Whereas an empty milk bottle is traditionally put out on the front doorstep for the milkman, with a tag around the bottle saying something like "No Milk Today Please Milkman", there could instead be a bottle on the doorstep WITH A RAG IN THE TOP, and with a tag around the bottle saying in big letters "NO ID CARDS THANKS!", as if it were a message to the government. Legally, a bottle with a rag in it can not automatically infer that it could become a petrol bomb, and that the opinion expressed on the tag if ignored will result in civil unrest and the deploying of whatever is in the crates inside the houses. Instead, it is simply a subtle hint that, as you walk along the street, seeing house after house with a "No ID Cards" bottle with rag, it suggests that people do not wish there to be an ID Card scheme!

This kind of thing is a bit like the idea of democracy, not that there really is such a thing in supposedly democratic states such as the UK and the US. After all, people don't vote for politicians

Different people have different views, but quite a lot of people believe something approximating to "Down with ID Cards!" or "Down with Oppressive Government!". Authors have warned of the problem for a long time, for example in George Orwell's 1984, or in films such as "Equilibrium". A few sites which expound opinions similar to mine on the ID Card problem include these: (worth visiting!)

No2ID.net - No to ID cards! "We Are Not the Property of Her Majesty's Government"

Stand.org.uk - down with ID CARDS!

These people are specialists in the matters to do with ID Cards, so you might be better to hear what they have to say than to accept my paranoid feelings on the problem. After all, I feel I am being persecuted. Plus, I am emigrating from the UK, not only for reasons to do with escaping from Nanny State tyranny, but also because of tax. Don't get me wrong, there are many good and bad things about the UK, and it's not all bad. However, it is already (for me) unlivable.

OTHER PROBLEMS WITH THE IDENTITY CARD CONDITIONING

If the government in control of your life has all your personal details on computer, it is only a matter of time before that database is handed over to other governments, some of which are at least as despotic. I have been reliably informed by a political expert that the European Union (United States of Europe) has already put in place assurances that it will NOT be allowing the secret database of personal information on all its citizens to be divulged to the secret service of the United States of America. However, I am not as reassured as I might be. Besides political shenanigans, there's also the matter of whether the database is secure. If it's on a Microsoft system I would say it is an open trapdoor to infiltration. However, much of Europe is upgrading to Linux, which is more secure, and independent.

It's only a matter of course that if the information gets passed on to governments around the world (for security excuse reasons) it will soon be hacked by criminals, who will then be able to trivially pass themselves off as you.

HOW TO DO IDENTITY PROPERLY

Having realised that the hidden agenda with ID Cards is to set up a Big Brother Is Watching You type of a state, the question of any legitimate use of Identity is put in doubt. But, interesting as it may seem, there is a proper way to achieve personal identification but WITHOUT the government controlling it. The key feature of this is that YOU keep YOUR personal identification details and no-one else is given ALL of it. So, supposing you have got your DNA sequenced and you are the only person with it on a computer, you only need divulge a small segment of it to your bank, and then the bank can recognise your identity. The same goes for any organisation, including the government. You have the master key, but they only have a small segment of it.

How this works can be explained by a fingerprint analogy. Supposing you are the only person who has a copy of all of your fingerprints. To identify yourself at the bank, you show them fingerprint number 8, which they match up with a copy of your fingerprint number 8 you've given to them when you got your bank account set up. Similarly, to identify yourself to the government for official tax purposes, you show them little finger print right, and they match that up with their copy of the same fingerprint. At no time does anyone (apart from yourself) need to have a copy of all of your fingerprints. That is the beauty of the method: YOU are in control, not The Establishment!

Obviously the fingerprint thing is an analogy. The reality would involve something more involved such as your genetic sequence DNA or a unique random number sequence you have created using your own computer. As you are the only person with the whole set of data, you are in control. To anyone else, you allocate a specific segment, and that is the only part they are allowed to ask about. (I am currently using a similar system with company-specific e-mail, and that works amazingly well!).

OTHER ISSUES

* The sanctity of the privacy of your medical records is in danger of being compromised if the DVLA Problem continues. It's against the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath, and people's health is already being put at risk because of it.

* Banks that ask for your mother's maiden name, home address, and date of birth, are putting security at risk because all of these things are publically accessible in a public library! Some banks are already giving you the option of using a made-up password in place of "mother's maiden name". See banks and questions of mother's maiden name

* There is a page to help you to protect yourself from Identity Theft. The good advice helps save you from criminals who delve into the rubbish in your dustbin. However, this doesn't solve the problem of the government being involved in Identity Theft, which sinks to lower depths.

* Have you noticed how many "Big Brother is Watching You" spy cameras there are in the streets?

* Also beware of back-door ID Card schemes such as the BIOMETRIC PASSPORTS. If your data ends up on that, it becomes available to governments of various countries around the world. I do not believe all their intentions are entirely honourable, and I don't accept the "anti terrorism" line of propaganda. Also, avoid transit of the USA, as this also imposes on your personal privacy.

* Also see Xyroth's more moderate view of ID Cards here: ID Card questions

* There's an intriguing novel about Identity Cards by Barry Tighe at Can Write Will Write.com/shop.htm

* I have refused to sign up to PayPal as their terms and conditions are, I consider, a danger to my personal safety (stalker risk). However, I'll still help to defend PayPal against bank hoax attacks. This illustrates the gulf between real security and fake security. Criminals can easily use phishing to get at people's identity, and yet at the same time the perceived officious bureaucracy of PayPal is considered prejudicial to personal safety. Also see crime fighting

* Don't be depressed by all this. There are many things to be cheerful about. The Roman Empire fell, Nazi Germany was defeated, and present day empires need not be as confident as Napoleon that they are going to be able to conquer everyone. These days we have The Internet, which no government can control. Let's keep Internet Freedom and maintain individualistic philosophies. Plus, you are reading this stuff at the website of ZYRA, who isn't giving up! (This page is only one of thousands of pages at this site. Most of the pages are more cheerful than this!)


Update 2010/06: After a change of government in the UK, the previous regime's daft plans to force a mandatory ID card scheme were overturned! Let's make sure they get rid of the evil database as well!


Also see...

Evil problems with Passports

http://www.tldm.org/news4/markofthebeast.htm

www.wanttoknow.info/microchipimplants

www.creators-not-consumers.co.uk

http://www.rense.com/general67/chip.htm

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/microchip.asp