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2. The government already holds a great deal of data about you. I don't think ID cards will add to that.
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This, although it's not actually true*, is actually an argument against - why should the country pay £19bn to collect and store data it already has?
* The ID scheme requires a lot more compulsory information than currently provided voluntarily. I can get by without a driving licence and if I'm not driving (like I didn't from about 1994 to 2003) I don't bother keeping DVLA informed of house moves. Ditto I've moved twice since getting my passport and haven't felt the need to inform them, and it's perfectly good ID, I took it the bank the other day, in fact, along with a water bill.
However, if I get a card and don't keep the ID card people IPS informed when I move I get whacked with a £2000 fine. What's in it for me, then, if on the rare occasions I need to prove who I am the other party is perfectly willing to accept my existing ID?
That's before getting onto the government repeatedly lying about the system anyway (biometrics are secure because they won't be online? How do you check the person in front of you has biometrics that match the database?). I don't trust them and don't think the scheme is necessary, although I'm prepared to accept that a free card for particularly low-paid people who find it difficult to prove who they are is actually positively beneficial.
---------- Post added at 12:34 ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 ----------
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I'm all for it if means I only have to carry one card instead of passport, drivers licence, staff ID, security swipe card, Oyster card, etc, etc.
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Since the scheme doesn't actually include any of that stuff (although the ID card would be a passport equivalent within the EU, but not outside), what's the point here? Your staff ID and security swipe card are part of a private contract between you and your employer, Oyster is a way of carrying cash around, open anonymously to anyone, particularly tourists, and solely intended to make using public transport simple. Do you really want all those run by the incompetents at the Home Office? They'd ruin them.