At a time when the economy is crashing into a depression, with unemployment and homelessness dramatically on the increase, the UK Government remains hell-bent on spending billions of pounds tagging the population like dogs. The first phase of introducing the national identity card began on 25th November 2008. In a move reminiscent of pre-WWII Nazi Germany the British government has ordered that all Non-EU nationals living in the UK must now report to one of six new Border Agency centres across the country to be interrogated.

Overseas students and non-EU spouses of UK residents, who apply for an extension of their stay in the UK, must now report to have their biometric data harvested. Along with a photograph, name, nationality and immigration status the cards also have a biometric chip that holds a digital image and fingerprints.

There were a number of protests held on 25th November across the UK in defiance of such a blatantly racist move. The protests were attended by those who want freedom for all, not a select few, but that doesn’t seem to have halted Jacqui Smith’s determination to frogmarch the UK into a totalitarian state.

In an article published on the Home Office website Jacqui Smith said “ID cards will give employers a secure way of checking a migrant’s right to work and study in the UK and help people prove they are who they say are.”

Sounds fair does it?

No – victimising migrant workers and students in this manner simply attempts to put a ‘respectable face’ on racism and cannot be accepted. In addition, a recent report in the Observer points to the fact that “these ID cards cannot be read by any official body because the government has not issued a single scanner.” What’s more the Home Office has admitted that no government bodies, including police forces, have scanners - and there are no plans to issue them!

It could be concluded that this is, initially, a triumph for those of us that oppose this fascist state tracking each individual as if we were a danger to ourselves and each other. No citizen in a free country should continually have to prove their identity. No government should be so audacious as to erode civil liberties with such blatant disregard for the rights of the individual. We should not have ID cards, or the scanners to read them.

However, reading between the lines, the lack of scanners takes on a more sinister tone. Although the ID card is the more visible face of the scheme, it is the National Identity Register (NIR) that sits behind the card that sets alarm bells ringing. This is the giant ‘big brother’ style database that will eventually hold any number of pieces of sensitive information on each and every member of the population. If government bodies have no way of scanning these ID cards then they become no better than a piece of plastic with your photo on – like the driving licences that we already have. So what’s the difference?

The difference is that the government now holds a wealth of information about you – all in one place. You are responsible for its content. You will be fined if it is wrong. Your personal information could be accessed by any number of nosey civil servants for anything as trivial as a parking ticket.

Astonishingly the government does not see the sheer hypocrisy of admitting that no scanners exist! If the cards are not fit for the purpose originally stated then why have them at all? The Home Office website states that the ID cards are the ‘cornerstone’ of the national identity scheme, and that “the cards will be linked to their owners by unique biometric information (for example, fingerprints). This is needed to ensure that your card is really yours, and to protect you from identity theft.” IF NOBODY CAN SCAN THE CARDS then this crucial point made by the government is, in effect, defunct.

Whilst the population is routinely monitored, counted and checked our sensitive, personal information is being increasingly shared between the public and private sector. There are currently fifty categories of facts that must be registered and the government reserves the right to add to this at any time. This centralisation of data will not prevent illegal immigration, will not prevent terrorism and will not prevent identity fraud. What it does is give those in positions of power too much power and too much information. There are very good historical reasons as to why Germany does not centralise its records. It would seem that the UK government thinks itself above learning such important lessons from history.