The Government doesn’t want us to know the risks of identity cards. I wonder why…
They can already track us by our mobile phones and credit cards. They can read our emails and listen to all our phone calls. And they can watch us on the network of CCTV cameras. You’d think that would be enough…
If you’re happy about giving up your liberties, fine. If not, many people are asking questions right now…
This may sound completely off-topic, but really it’s not. The theme of control and who has power over our ability to live the lives we want has run through all my writing since I started getting published. It’s most clear in Age of Misrule, if you consider the Tuatha de Danann, the Celtic golden-skinned gods, as a symbol. Their subtle manipulation of humanity for their own ends is almost as destructive as the full-on machinations of the demonic Fomorii.
If we don’t take control of our own existence, somebody else will.
one of the many important things you say in Devil in Green is those who want to be in power are the ones who shouldn’t be….
It all just get’s closer and closer to 1984 and Brave New World and I for one find that very very scary
Indeed, who is watching the watchers?
The film Enemy of the State, with a degree of dramatic licence, gives some idea of what the NSA are capable of in the States – trouble is, I don’t think the outcry over hear will be loud enough to stop them being introduced and having to pay for them just adds insult to injury……
The vast costs involved (I think the fine article’s estimate of a £1bn price tag is conservative) and the government’s lamentable history of disastrous IT projects are enough to put me off the ID scheme before it even starts getting onto the ethics of it.
So many of the laws on these issues that are being introduced right now will work fine if you assume the best of every agent of the state. The minute they are not entirely trustworthy those powers become incredibly dangerous.
Meanwhile, you don’t have to let anyone read your emails: http://fuzzymonkey.net//articles/pgpguide.shtml (Although the law on this is increasingly becoming shaky…)
maybe I’m just naive… but doesn’t all this surveilance and info gathering end up as just reams of info – unless you actually do something? I don’t know, maybe I haven’t read enough or seen enough about the ID scheme to fully appreciate what it would mean to liberty etc… but don;t get me started on the EU and the Euro… ;)