[IP] U.K identity cards: an overview, from the Economist [priv]
Begin forwarded message:
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
Date: July 4, 2005 2:08:22 PM EDT
To: politech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Politech] U.K identity cards: an overview, from the
Economist [priv]
http://economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4134025
Magic plastic
Jun 30th 2005
From The Economist print edition
TO BOOSTERS, they promise to ease everything from race relations to
opening a bank account. To critics, they are a costly affront to free-
born Englishmen, a looming technological disaster and a political
millstone—plastic equivalents of the poll tax, which tipped Margaret
Thatcher out of power 15 years ago. This week's preliminary vote in
the House of Commons on a bill to establish a national identity card
means it is only a matter of time before Britons find out who is right.
If the government's plans stay on track, Britons will, within three
years, begin to receive cards containing personal details, together
with a digital photograph, fingerprints and an iris scan. A nation
that has not possessed identity cards since 1952 will, in a step,
acquire the world's most complex system.
At the heart of the scheme is a national identity register, which
will record basic personal details: name, sex, date and place of
birth, address, nationality, immigration status and the numbers of
documents such as driver's licences and passports.
[...remainder snipped...]
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