Normally I smile at naivete - it is often a charming character trait, and when you came across it, it can brighten a dull day. If I thought that Dave Biggart's letter, Yes 2ID Cards, simply reflected naivete, I would have smiled - but so many mis-statements or potentially dangerous misapprehensions on this subject that appear in print need to be challenged.
To deal with gross factual inaccuracies first: the government's plans for ID cards do not include any provision for medical records and will not replace the driving licence, and a national database for DNA will not in any way aid medical research. If kept as proposed, it overturns the fundamental legal principle of innocent until proven guilty - it would work on the basis of a presumption that all of us are guilty until eliminated from enquires by the DNA test.
Beyond that, there are a number of issues about ID cards which need to be examined, but I would like simply to look at two.
Will they work? The government's track record here is well known - the NHS computer system in England is several billion pounds over budget and several years behind schedule, and as he ...   more »