Leaked Government Doc Reveals UK ID "Coercion" Plans

BoingBoing is relating a hair-raising tale from the UK anti-ID-register group 'NO2ID' that claims to have a leaked government document [PDF] detailing how the UK government plans to "coerce" citizens into a national ID register. "UK campaigners NO2ID this morning enlisted the help of bloggers across the world to spread a leaked government document describing how the British government intends to go about "coercing" its citizens onto a National Identity Register. The 'ID card' is revealed as little more than a cover to create a official dossier and trackable ID for every UK resident - creating what NO2ID calls 'the database state'."

Broken link

[SuperBanana]

Boingboing appears to be down; I get "connection reset." Here's the NO2ID group's homepage [no2id.net]. Relevant searches on Google/Google News will probably turn up more information of interest than Boing Boing's shoot-from-the-hip sensationalism, anyway.

Missing authorship information

[Bogtha]

There's a noticeable lack of authorship details. It notes that various government departments have "contributed to" the options analysis, but I read that as simply saying that people from those departments have been interviewed in the course of performing this analysis.

Does anybody know who actually produced this report? I'd hardly call the government a bunch of liars for opinions expressed in a report produced by outside contractors, but without any reason to believe otherwise, that's what this sounds like to me.

Re:Missing authorship information

[Bogtha]

There's a noticeable lack of authorship details.

I take it back, the IPS [wikipedia.org] are responsible for this, I just didn't spot it because it was written in the third-person.

Re:Ironically....

[cayenne8]

"The 'ID card' is revealed as little more than a cover to create a official dossier and trackable ID for every UK resident - creating what NO2ID calls 'the database state'."

Hmm...sounds quite reminiscent of the US's upcoming version...the RealID act. In our case, they're just calling them drivers licenses....but, if you don't drive, you still need an ID that fits in with the RealID act. So, it really is a national ID, hooked to a national, govt. database.

Re:24 years behind schedule...

[cybereal]

Winston, the main character, lived within view of the headquarters of The Party of Oceania which would presumably house Big Brother if he actually existed. The location was called Airstrip One, which according to Winston, used to be known as London.

Big Brother was British.

Re:Hmm

[cayenne8]

"Well I'm already trackable as an individual through my social security number. How is this any worse than that?"

Well, at this point, you don't have to give out your SS number, or have it scanned for travelling by airplane. Or soon...to be scanned when buying booze, or entering a bar...or maybe after that, for any CC transaction to validate identity.

You aren't forced to carry it with you at all times, and have that number associated with many actions you take today in every day life. It can't really be used to trace you to a very fine grained detail....yet.

It doesn't have an RFID chip in it (like our passports have now) that might could be used to track your physical movements during the day by scanners set up who knows where...

Unless you are careless and give it to anyone party not concerned with SS taxable income...you can't really be tracked that badly as of now with just an SS. Now...if you give it out willy-nilly to anyone asking for it for their database (instead of refusing to give it out)...well, you might be tracked better than I currently am by it.

Re:NO worries

[ah.clem]

Clatto Verata N... Necktie... Nickel... It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word!

OK, I'm not always the sharpest pencil in the packet protector, but were you meaning "klaatu barada nikto"? If so, I get the joke, but the spelling is not quite right...

ah.clem

Re:Coercion

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

Coercion is clearly not what defines government because I can tell the difference between organised criminal organisations and governments (though there are, like with any distinction, borderline cases). Similarly, in a country like Somalia which for a long time recently lacked what you call a "central committee", coercion played a major part in people's lives. So coercion is neither necessary or sufficient to define government.

Governments don't implement arbitrary rules. Almost every government has a lengthy procedure for introducing new rules and even dictators have typically not been free to introduce laws on a whim.

Maybe it works like you say in Toytown.

Re:24 years behind schedule...

[fishbowl]

>Big Brother was British.

As was Orwell, who was satirizing his contemporary view of British society and government by framing it into a dystopian futuristic novel. But the situation that provoked him to write 1984 was his Labour party job that required him to participate in blacklisting people suspected of being communists. It turns out the real "Big Brother" actually *was* watching his every move and keeping detailed records, and that he really did have to write blatant fabrications on behalf of the government.

Keep in mind while reading 1984.... Orwell (Blair) was an informant for the government, exposing dangerous communists like Charlie Chaplin and John Steinbeck.