Tensor wrote:
I object to these things on so many grounds it not even funny. In fact I'd be terrified if I thought they had a hope of getting it right...

This country has allready had a massive drop in civil liberties over the last few years. We have more CCTV cams per capita in the UK than anywhere else. We got rid of ID cards last time around because they were a bad idea and led to lazy policing. They were only introduced last time around because we were at war - not phony "war on terror" war - world war two. back then we had a parliament that was worth somthing that considered it and reluctantly agreed to bring them in. This lot are a shadow of those people.

The biometrics they are planning on basing this on dont work. They just plain dont work! Fingerprinting can be defeated by molds made of jelly. Facial recognition needs new pictures at the MOST every 5 years, but the plan in the budget is to renew every 10.

What are they for? We are told they will prevent Terrorism. Who puts "terrorist" as occuption on there card? Spain has mandatory ID cards and it didnt stop attacks there. Its a bogus argument. OK, so next argument - it will stop ID theft. Except what do you need to apply for an ID card to proove you are who you say you are/ You need ID. The existing, flawed ID that makes it so easy to steal ID. Its a house built on sand. Ok, so next argument - it will reduce benefit fraud. Except it is going to cost more to rune than is lost in Benefit fraud. In fact unclaimed benefit in this country is higher than benefit fraud.

In summary, ID cards are a bad idea because:
* They will cost a stupid, stupid, STUPID amount of money - which would be better of spent on policing if you really want to stop terrorism and fraud.
* It is technically over ambitious
* It is yet another attack on our allready eroded Civil liberties.
* There has not been an argument put forward for them that stands up to decent scrutiny.

What annoys me most is that billions upon billions is going to be poured in to this and its not going to work. As a new IT contracter that might mean lots of money for me but its going to mean a total waste of time and money for the country.




Probably wont create alot of work for contractors here as they will no doubt outsource most of the development on it to India etc.

Lets hope they try to implement it in Java as result LOL