Category: Identity Cards
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Barnett on e-borders
Anthony Barnett has picked up the e-borders issue over at OurKingdom, placing it squarely in the wider context of the Database State. OurKingdom has joined another valuable new group blog, Liberal Conspiracy, in backing Henry Porter’s call for a mass ‘movement in defence of our privacy, security and freedom.’
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ID cards: It’s time the penny dropped
Remarkable piece by Martin Kettle on the data debacle: There can hardly be a person alive who hasn’t lost something important – keys, wallet, passport, watch, car, even children – at some time or another through their own inadvertence or stupidity. We’ve all done it. A lot of us have also had things stolen too,…
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National identity database: You’ve got to be joking
As many people have already pointed out, today’s debacle shows just how vulnerable a centralised idenity database would be. NO2ID is calling for all government ‘identity management’ initiatives to be stopped until a full audit of all personal information on government systems has been conducted. Phil Booth, NO2ID’s National Coordinator, said: "This data disaster shows…
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No ID cards for Ireland
Another interesting and very welcome story from yesterday’s Sunday Business Post: The government no longer believes that identity cards will be needed as a response to their introduction in Britain. The British government has told Irish officials that the imminent introduction of ID cards in Britain will not affect Irish citizens moving between the two…
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ID cards bill third reading
With the Commons giving the Identity Cards bill its third reading today, its worth having a look at two excellent pieces of analysis by John Lettice in The Register. Minister’s shock claim: ID scheme to check 13 biometrics It turns out the 13 separate biometrics are your face, two eyes (unless they’re brown) and ten…
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British-Irish discussions on identity card register
I have just received a reply from the Home Office to the following query I sent them last month: I wonder if you could help me clarify the situation with regards to the implications of the UK identity cards scheme for Ireland. The recent report on identity cards by the London School of Economics concluded…
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Fine Gael on identity cards
Interesting comments from Jim O’Keeffe last Friday. Personally I think a full debate would be amply justified, on such issues as the future of the Common Travel Area, and the arrangements for sharing data between Britain and Ireland. UK must not be allowed to dictate policy on ID cards – O’Keeffe Fine Gael Justice Spokesman…
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Illegal immigrants ‘exploiting Common Travel Area’
Britain’s National Criminal Intelligence Service has said in its 2005 UK Threat Assesment that illegal immigrants are exploiting the Common Travel Area with Ireland. This statement obviously has implications for the debate about the future of the Common Travel Area sparked by the British Government’s identity cards plan (as UTV notes in its report) The…
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Irish Government on e-borders
From this week’s Irish World: e-borders plan for British-Irish Travel by Tom Griffin, 22 July 2005 edition British plans for an electronic border control programme could lead to significant change to the common travel area with Ireland, the Department of Justice has said. The proposed e-Borders system will identify people who have boarded transport destined…
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ID card tensions between Clarke and McDowell
It looks as if the Irish Government is resigned to introducing identity cards in the wake of the London bombings, although Justice Minister Michael McDowell says he is against the idea in principle. The Sunday Business Post understands that government officials are involved in “ongoing discussions’‘ with their counterparts in London about British plans for…