Nothing to hide is not really a cogent reason for anything. There are an infinite number of things I am not hiding from the Police because they don't exist (except in paranoid people's minds). Proving someone's identity has nothing to do with whether they have a cannabis farm in a house, whether they are a people traffiker, whether they pavement cycle, don't pay their tv licence or any infinite number of other small misdemeanours. I do not do any of these. The nonsense is that ID cards would only really work if there were such a burden that daily life became unworkable - police road stops on every road, constant surveilance. These things are intolerable.
Nothing to hide is just code to mean I don't think I'll get stop and searched/harassed by the police because I'm rich/middle class/upper class/live in a low crime/rural/not in a minority/whatever. In reality it is a balance between potential harrassment and gains/losses elsewhere. If you don't have any of the harrassment it's much easier to support it, especially if you had a fair amount of wealth and you need the tools of the state to protect the erosion of this whether through traditional crime or identity crime. You might be well off and spend time worrying about your taxes rising through having to pay to support asylum seekers. There are many other scenerios. The people who trot out nothing to hide as a reason in all likehood have never been stopped and searched by the police, have fairly considerable material wealth and naturally want things to continue the way they are. Unfortunately it's not like that for everybody, there are many people who also have nothing to hide but whose lives would be made hell on earth by the police. Also it lives in an idealised world. ID cards make little or no difference protecting you from these things.
---------- Post added at 20:05 ---------- Previous post was at 19:59 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by tphj
I have a driving licence and passport both my photo and date of birth are on them,so no one can complain about that.
On an ID card I would have the above on plus my NI number,my right to live and work in the UK,any biometric details that are required.
The only issue I have with ID cards is the cost
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Environment affecting biometrics are not necessary for Identity verification. They are quite simply none of the state's business. They are just on the road towards a total police state (subject to when resources and computers are enough to realise this hellish vision).