Britain's proposed National Id Card

Tony Blair brushed aside Cabinet reservations last night and gave the Home Office the go-ahead to introduce compulsory identity cards following the discovery this week of a suspected British Muslim terrorist network.

He tore up the deal brokered in October with doubting ministers that would have seen a national ID scheme postponed for a decade, amid fears it would cost too much and undermine civil liberties.

Mr Blair said political objections had been removed and the only obstacle now was technical. He made clear he wanted the project to "move forward" as soon as it was feasible."

He risked antagonising civil rights campaigners by claiming they no longer objected to the idea, which would see each citizen required to buy a computer-readable card that would record personal details.

Asked what the implications would be for last year's agreement to postpone the scheme, Mr Blair said the deal he and David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, negotiated with the rest of the Cabinet no longer applied.....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/02/nid02.xml

Please note, the date of the article is standard for most countries, 02/04/2004 and is, for those of you in the US, April 4, 2004.

Coming soon to a country near you.

we have to shoot you. welcome to germany 1939

you're mugged or your house in broken into and someone steals your card? How do you prove that you are who you say you are? And if someone does steal your card, which has all your personal information on it, wouldn't it be so much easier for them to clear out your bank account, max out your credit cards and/or completely assume your identity? :shrug:

Wouldn't tattooing numbers on our arms be more practical? </sarcasm>



On edit: When did Tony Blair become such a fascist? I used to think he was a good guy ... that he really cared. Damn, it's scary that I could I be so wrong about someone. :(

demand if (God forbid) he had another 4 years in office