It's indeed quite unfortunate that we cannot trust EVEN those who are supposed to be law-abiding organizations like governments, police, intelligence agencies, etc.
On the other hand I honestly have (and see) nothing against a national ID card. We have that in Brazil which EVEN includes fingerprinting FOR ALL, regardless of whether you have a criminal record or not! And it works just great! If we did have such a system it would be far easier to track down crimes since all it would take would be to "run" the print through a national directory and presto, you nabbed a suspect! If only we had that I would have found who was it that stole my car stereo, bike helmet, etc, some years ago!... :-S ;-) Marcus On Tue, 16 Jul 2002 16:43:43 metric wrote: >> Of James Wentworth >>This morning I heard two ABC radio news reports about a plan for >>a new nationwide standard US drivers license. The new license >>is intended to make it easier for the authorities to match its >>data with data (including foreign passport data) on potential >>terrorists. > >The US driver's licence is supposed to be for *driving* not citizen >tracking. The clue is in the name. > >The UK government is trying similar things. It has decided that all >phone calls, emails and web page visits of all citizens should be >logged. This privacy invasion is forbidden under UK constitutional law >however a loophole allows it to do draconian things in wartime. So we >are officially at war. > >It also wants to introduce an ID card. Despite over 25 years of >experience with terrorism, the UK has no ID card. UK police have to give >7 days written notice if they want to see a UK driver's licence, which >is only a piece of paper and does not have to have a photo (and yet UK >roads are the safest in the world). > >I am more afraid of government surveillance than of terrorists. Have the >innocent got anything to fear? You bet. > >-- >Terry Simpson >Human Factors Consultant >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >www.connected-systems.com >Phone: +44 7850 511794 > > Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. Sign up today at http://mail.lycos.com
