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
- Most measures regarding security and crime control do not work.
- Their effect is restriction of 'honest citizen's' privacy and freedom.
- Alternative solutions to the security and privacy 'trade-off'
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.
Monday, April 26, 2004
ID Bill will give officers right to scan eyes
Another article in The Times on ID and the ID Bill that will give officers right to scan eyes. The Home Secretary’s long-awaited draft Bill on ID cards, published today, will attempt to reassure civil liberties opponents by confirming that it will not be obligatory to carry the card even if, as expected, the scheme becomes compulsory in the next decade.
But police will be able to take biometric data from suspects on the spot if they are not in possession of their card. Officers would then be able to check the national database to find out who the suspect is.
Remember Minority Report?
Big Blunkett was interviewed by a "panel of experts" on the Beeb this morning. No one pressed him on anything really searching. Everyone was very civilized and discussed very cordially some of the technological implications. The civil liberties argument was swept aside with the statement that the great British public are in support of draconian measures because we are, effectively, at war.
The great British public, if they believe this tosh, are guilty of gross buffoonery and fail to value what freedoms they have. I presume they will winge when they're gone?
The great British public always assumes that the liberties being given away are someone else's. Had ICM asked "should the government be allowed to detain indefinitely without trial/forcibly scan the eyeballs of members of your family indefinitely without trial?" the answers might have been different.
They are also proposing to make the 'offense' of carrying fake ID illegal, punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. How long do we give them before that crime becomes failure to produce ID?
Regards
Guy, you're right of course - the Great British Public, is, by and large, hard of thinking and doesn't follow the conclusion through. The media at the moment, are not asking awkward questions.
The interview held another corker....
BB has an explanation for why the Madrid bombings were not prevented by Spanish ID cards:
They weren't biometric.
Words fail me.
I've just printed off the consultation document (all 120 pages of it).
One of my colleagues saw it and said "you're going to read all that? You must be mad".
I calmly pointed out to him that attitudes like his are the reason the government passes crap like this legislation.
Here is another story for you.
People who refuse to register for the government's planned ID card scheme could face a "civil financial penalty" of up to £2,500, it has emerged.
David Blunkett said not making registering a criminal issue would avoid "clever people" becoming martyrs.
We really must be protected from the menace of clever martyrs.
Never mind, though. We have robust opposition from the Tories:
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the Tories backed the idea of ID cards but said safeguards blah, blah, blah
"Civil penalties" also neatly do away with any need for trial or proof.
Blunkett's "clever people" remark shows the vileness and ruthless preparation of this campaign. Those who object are already being set up as a trahison des clerks, endangering ordinary people with their too-clever-by-half, la-di-dah civil liberties nonsense, in contrast to our bluff representative of the common man who is just getting on with what needs to be done.
Leaders of any opposition--though there seems to be no organised opposition yet--better have skins of iron, given the personal vilification that may be aimed their way. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if details from security and criminal files, and stories about the dubious associations and embarassing antics of those opponents, were to find their way to the tabloids.
True colours indeed.... Ever notice how the first group a totalitarian regime targets is "academics?" Too clever by half and we can't be having any of that, now, can we? They might just see through us and tell the proles.
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