I was going to write about the ID cards in the UK. How they’re a bad thing, how we’re going to have to pay for them, and how they’re simply not going to work.

Fortunately, Jack Mottram has done it for me :

Blunkett’s £40 ID Cards

The Sunday Times reports that David Blunkett has made up his mind to foist ID cards on the British public.

Well that’s just dandy. Not only will we have to carry a bit of plastic containing ‘biometric data’ and submit personal information for storage on a central database, we’ll also have to pay for the privilige of having our civil liberties eroded.

In the leaked letter, Blunkett identifies ‘a highly organised minority who will campaign vocally against a scheme’ – Stand, I assume – and claims ‘strong public support’ after the recent consultation process. Bullshit. My concerns didn’t count, nor did those of five thousand others alerted by Stand’s recent campaign to raise awareness of the consultation.

If you want to read (a lot) more on why ID cards are A Bad Thing, you can view Stand’s submission to the consultation or check out the [Privacy International . If you are convinced by the arguments against the introduction of ID cards, please Fax Your MP without delay.](http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/idcard/uk/uk-idcard-faq.html)

Worth reading is Stand’s original response to ID cards

I really don’t understand how anyone can argue, in all sincerity, that ID cards are somehow going to stop, or even slow down terrorism. Hello? The September 11th hijackers had legal flying papers, thousands of credit and debit cards are cloned and faked every week. How are these going to be secure enough to stop someone stealing my entire life?