Monday
(1)Identity cards are a cause of much controversy here in the UK, and are especially hated by Samizdata writers. Next week, on Tuesday 18 January, there will be a roundtable discussion on identity cards, held at the Adam Smith Institute in London. Speakers will include Peter Lilley MP (former Secretary of State for Social Security), Sarah Arnott (journalist at the IT industry newspaper, Computing), Seamus Heffernan (Civitas) and others to be confirmed. The event will start at 6:15pm for 6:30pm, at 23 Great Smith Street, London SW1, and will be followed by a champagne reception. If you would like to reserve a place, please e-mail events@adamsmith.org.
I fear that ID cards will be too quickly coming thru voluntary compliance -- for E-commerce.
I hope there is more effort at making the gov't use of ID more transparent. Who has what info, what they can give to who. Especially needed is the requirement that every gov't retrieval of any individual person's info is clearly recorded in ANOTHER agency, including the gov't person's name, time of access, and what the gov't person learned. (An info snapshot). Every citizen should ALREADY have access to such info; but do not.
Posted by Tom Grey - Liberty Dad at January 10, 2005 12:05 PM
Dang, if only the Concord was still flying. Have a good time and let us know of any revelations, won't you?
Seems like identity cards are about as useful as tits on a boar hog; but only just so dangerous.
Posted by HelenW at January 10, 2005 02:14 PM
What worries me is that some holders may accidentally leave their passport / ID / Visa containing the chip in their microwave perhaps on the mistaken basis that it was an "oven chip". 20 seconds on medium would be just right.
If people did this accidentally on a large scale it would make life difficult for everyone.
Posted by Edward Teague at January 10, 2005 08:50 PM
This RFID chip in ID idea seems like a boon to terrorism.
A terrorist can set up AP mines that wait for the right RFID chip to pass by....
Posted by Kristopher Barrett at January 11, 2005 05:20 PM
"And instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards as the Tory Right demand, let that money provide thousands of extra police officers on the beat in our local communities."~ Tony Blair
You might also want to take a look at the No2ID site.
Posted by Julian Taylor at January 12, 2005 12:56 PM
Be careful of battery-powered (and probably piezo) sparking gas igniters around smartcard contacts, as they may inadvertently overwhelm the protection diodes and render the chip inoperable.
And we wouldn't want that now, would we?
Posted by ThePresentOccupier at January 12, 2005 04:08 PM
Seems that Seamus Heffernan, who gave the most witty talk at the ID debate, has a new job at the Globalization Institute.
Posted by R C Towns at January 30, 2005 10:45 AM
