Colcam

The "voluntary" identity cards which we are all going to carry if Blair and Clarke and the gang have their way - and their is little evidence so far, judging by the non-reaction of the British public, that the government will not get their way - is now to include chip-and-pin technology as a way of checking each person's identity.

While the government still maintain the fiction that the ID card is defence against identity theft and terrorism, chip-and-pin technology has already been compromised by organised criminals, and what this whole scheme is really about is the ceaseless monitoring of people's lives by the state, big corporations, the police, MI5, Inland Revenue, Customs and, as Henry Porter says in The Observer, "any damned official or commercial busybody that wants access to your life."

Ah, but I hear you Bahhhh, if I have nothing to hide I have nothing to fear.

Well, you're the woolies I'm talking to.

Private businesses are going to be given access to the national identity register database. If you want to apply for a job, you will have to present your card for a swipe. If you want to apply for a London underground Oystercard or supermarket loyalty card or driving licence, you will have to present your card.

You will need the card when you receive prescription drugs, when you withdraw a relatively small amount of money from a bank, check into hospital, get your car unclamped, apply for a fishing licence, set up an internet account, fix a residents' parking permit or take out insurance.

All for the central database to log.

And, of course, you will have to pay dearly for the privilege of having the right to exist as a citizen in the UK because, without the card it will be almost impossible to live your life.

Of course, if you are one of the sheep, content to follow the rest of the flock who seem content to be herded into a life of subservience and control by the all-seeing state, none of this will worry you.

Personally, I find it worrying that Tesco know so much about my eating habits from my loyalty card, let alone having to hand over my life for them to swipe before I can eat.

I've done nothing wrong, so have nothing to fear is a brave statement and worthy of careful consideration by those who make that claim. Can any one of us say we have absolutely nothing to fear from a state that knows our every move?

Those sheep already dead, frozen and prepacked on Tesco's shelves need not answer that.

The rest should think hard, then worry.


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