The UK's coming Police State


Fran

Recommended Posts

This was emailed to me.

This was written originally by Frances Stonor Saunders.

Frances Stonor Saunders is the former arts editor of The New Statesman,

author of The Cultural Cold War, Diabolical Englishman and The Devil's

Broker and was awarded the Royal Historical Society's William Gladstone

Memorial Prize. She lives in London. It is well worth reading and if you

wish to, please pass it on to as many people as you can.

"You may have heard that legislation creating compulsory ID Cards

passed a crucial stage in the House of Commons. You may feel that ID

cards are not something to worry about, since we already have Photo ID

for our Passport and Driving License and an ID Card will be no different to

that. What you have not been told is the full scope of this proposed ID

Card, and what it will mean to you personally.

The proposed ID Card will be different from any card you now hold. It will

be connected to a database called the NIR, (National Identity Register),

where all of your personal details will be stored. This will include the

unique number that will be issued to you, your fingerprints, a scan of the

back of your eye, and your photograph. Your name, address and date of

birth will also obviously be stored there.

There will be spaces on this database for your religion, residence status,

and many other private and personal facts about you. There is unlimited

space for every other details of your life on the NIR database, which can

be expanded by the Government with or without further Acts of Parliament.

By itself, you might think that this register is harmless, but you would be

wrong to come to this conclusion. This new card will be used to check

your identity against your entry in the register in real time, whenever you

present it to 'prove who you are'.

Every place that sells alcohol or cigarettes, every post office, every

pharmacy, and every Bank will have an NIR Card Terminal, (very much like

the Chip and Pin Readers that are everywhere now) into which your card

can be 'swiped' to check your identity. Each time this happens, a record

is made at the NIR of the time and place that the Card was presented.

This means for example, that there will be a government record of every

time you withdraw more than £99 at your branch of NatWest, who now

demand ID for these transactions. Every time you have to prove that you

are over 18, your card will be swiped, and a record made at the NIR.

Restaurants and off licenses will demand that your card is swiped so that

each receipt shows that they sold alcohol to someone over 18, and that

this was proved by the access to the NIR, indemnifying them from

prosecution.

Private businesses are going to be given access to the NIR Database. If

you want to apply for a job, you will have to present your card for a swipe.

If you want to apply for a London Underground Oyster Card, or a

supermarket loyalty card, or a driving license you will have to present your

ID Card for a swipe. The same goes for getting a telephone line or a

mobile phone or an internet account.

Oyster, DVLA, BT and Nectar (for example) all run very detailed databases

of their own. They will be allowed access to the NIR, just as every other

business will be. This means that each of these entities will be able to

store your unique number in their database, and place all your travel,

phone records, driving activities and detailed shopping habits under your

unique NIR number. These databases, which can easily fit on a storage

device the size of your hand, will be sold to third parties either legally or

illegally. It will then be possible for a non-governmental entity to create a

detailed dossier of all your activities. Certainly, the government will have

clandestine access to all of them, meaning that they will have a complete

record of all your movements, from how much and when you withdraw from

your bank account to what medications you are taking, down to the level

of what sort of bread you eat - all accessible via a single unique number in

a central database.

This is quite a significant leap from a simple ID Card that shows your

name and face.

Most people do not know that this is the true character and scope of the

proposed ID Card. Whenever the details of how it will work are explained

to them, they quickly change from being ambivalent towards it.

The Government is going to COMPEL you to enter your details into the

NIR and to carry this card. If you and your children want to obtain or

renew your passports, you will be forced to have your fingerprints taken

and your eyes scanned for the NIR, and an ID Card will be issued to you

whether you want one or not. If you refuse to be fingerprinted and eye

scanned, you will not be able to get a passport. Your ID Card will, just

like your passport, not be your property. The Home Secretary will have

the right to revoke or suspend your ID at any time, meaning that you will

not be able to withdraw money from your Bank Account, for example, or

do anything that requires you to present your government issued ID Card.

The arguments that have been put forwarded in favour of ID Cards can be

easily disproved. ID Cards WILL NOT stop terrorists; every Spaniard has

a compulsory ID Card as did the Madrid Bombers, and probably most of

the 9/11 criminals. ID Cards will not 'eliminate benefit fraud', which in

comparison, is small compared to the astronomical cost of this proposal,

which will be measured in billions according to the LSE (London School of

Economics). This scheme exists solely to exert total surveillance and

control over the ordinary free British Citizen, and it will line the pockets of

the companies that will create the computer systems at the expense of

your freedom, privacy and money.

If you did not know the full scope of the proposed ID Card Scheme before

and you are as unsettled as I am at what it really means to you, to this

country and its way of life, I urge you to email or photocopy this and give it

to your friends and colleagues and everyone else you think should know

and who cares. The Bill has proceeded to this stage due to the lack of

accurate and complete information on this proposal being made public.

Together and hand in hand, we can inform the entire nation if everyone who

receives this passes it on."

This message has nothing to do with Politics - it is to do with our freedom.

But it is the Politicians that in ignorance will vote for the ID card and thus

move us closer to the Police State that seems to be the aim of our current

Government. Please pass this message on - and use your vote next

General Election to get rid of the people who wish to destroy our cherished

democracy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fran,

I have the same reaction to this article as I have to displays of blatant racial hatred. It conflicts so deeply with my worldview that I cannot believe it could be happening in civilized society today and it stirs an anger deep inside. Have we not learned anything from the insights of Rand, Orwell, and others? Have we not learned anything from history? The quest for social dominance over others is a powerful motive for those who do not recognize the intrinsic value and sovereignty of the individual. The power of government must be limited precisely because the quest for social dominance can be such a powerful force in individuals who occupy positions of influence.

These ID cards represent the means for those of influence to exercise control over the lives of the nations citizens. These cards would provide direct access to private information that could be used to fraudulently deceive a person into acting against their best interests. These cards would provide the means to a withhold a person's access to their resources for survival. No person or group of people should be given this power in a civilized society. The blind trust of the socially oblivious leads to the absolute power and corruption of the socially dominant. You cannot blindly trust those in power to limit the exercise of their powers by virtue of their own values without enforcing those limits physically. The same principle works in reverse: those in power cannot trust the citizens of the nation to limit the exercise of their powers by virtue of their own values without enforcing those limits physically. What is good for the citizen is good for the government. We are all made of the same stuff and act according to the same human nature.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Do you have some sourcing on this? It looks like a straightforward news story, so I'd expect to see citations from standard news outlets. A quick googling shows that Saunders is best known for a book which argues that abstract expressionism was a CIA plot.

Pending more information, I'm going to file this with the email tax and Lovenstein Institute.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Et al,

One of the films to watch is the delightful Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Gene Hackman. A portend of things to come!

www.campaignforliberty.com 21Apr 6PM 147774

Join with us and pass the torch! Our movement is not about Ron Paul but about our freedom and the restoration of our Constitution.

gulch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Welcome:

I think this is the first time two first time posters appeared in the same thread on the same day.

This is a unique, valuable and joyful forum.

Anneanne and Dr. Lee thanks for making us feel that all our insane arguments do amaze people.

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Bobtom:

Welcome. Three new members on the same thread - hmmm a trend?

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael:

Thanks. I have to get up to speed on this semantic.

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spongebob:

Welcome aboard.

Student, worker, global slave?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael:

Thanks, saves that next question for the "bot".

Just the way I was raised which was to welcome someone and then interact with them.

When you say, something about this thread "attracted them" did you mean in terms of key words that fit a searching pattern?

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now