News of a new ID card scheme, in China:
BEIJING, Aug. 18 – For almost two decades, Chinese citizens have been defined, judged and, in some cases, constrained by their all-purpose national identification card, a laminated document the size of a driver’s license.
But starting next year, they will face something new and breathtaking in scale: an electronic card that will store that vital information for all 960 million eligible citizens on chips that the authorities anywhere can access.
Surprise, surprise.
Has Blunkett scheduled a fact-finding visit to China yet or did he give the Chinese government the idea in the first place I wonder?
And in China everyone does have a lifetime file on them which is referred to by the authorities to check if someone might have dangerous tendencies…
Threw a tantrum in kindergarten and refused to wear that red-ribbon in your hair? Noted. Obviously a worse candidate for promotion than the one without the attitude problem; and we should check your web use, now we think about it.