White Rose is a protest blog collective focusing on civil liberties in the UK.
It was set up to point a finger at the erosion of personal freedom in the UK.
Government's active measures introduce new means of control such as identity cards and surveillance cameras, the passive measures such as weakening of double jeopardy and presumption of innocence.


The arguments
The resistants
Gabriel Syme and Perry de Havilland of Samizdata.net to rally the Anglosphere behind the UK.
White Rose contributors are those bloggers and non-bloggers who oppose restrictions on personal liberties.

To find out how to become a White Rose contributor, please go here.
Sunday, June 22, 2003
Government plays for time over ID cards
Gabriel Syme (London)
(0)   Identity cards

ZDNet has an update on the ID card situation.

The Home Office has disclosed that 4,856 people sent emails via Stand's Web site that opposed the introduction of entitlement cards, but the final result of the consultation hasn't yet been revealed. The government is still refusing to disclose the result of its public consultation on the introduction of entitlement cards, even though the process closed over five months ago, it has emerged.

The government has said that entitlement cards, which would include an individual's personal details and possibly also biometric data, will help to prevent identity fraud and illegal workers. They are likely to cost upwards of £1.5bn to introduce -- most of which would go to technology companies. Opponents, though, claim that they will actually work as ID cards.

Civil liberty groups Stand and Privacy International's efforts resulted in almost 6,000 people taking part in the consultation through the organisations' specially created Web site and phone lines.

Statements made by government ministers since the consultation closed had implied that these 6,000 responses might be bundled together into a single petition and not treated as individual views.


Comments

One element of good news in all of this - the Home Office have revised their figures to include all comments from Stand. They now say that of 7000 responses received, over 5000 were against. Story at the BBC and The Regsister

Great idea for a blog, BTW.

Posted by: Chris Rowe on June 23, 2003 09:41 AM

Now don't get me wrong - I'm against ID cards on the grounds that they are ineffective at stopping crime, represent another expensive bureaucracy, and are intrusive - but isn't the UK unusual in -not- having some form of ID card scheme?

I ask, because I seem to recall talking to some people who I thought were American on the internet, and they were surprised to hear that the UK doesn't have an identity card.

Speaking for myself, my sole identification is a birth certificate, not having either passport or driving license. (!)

Posted by: The Last Toryboy on June 23, 2003 10:51 AM

isn't the UK unusual in -not- having some form of ID card scheme?

Here are some systems adopted by other countries.

Posted by: Gabriel Syme on June 23, 2003 04:34 PM
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