currybetdotnet ID cards archive

Doctor Who against ID cards?
Thanks to the successfully revived show I'm very easy to buy for at Christmas these days - and a good proportion of my presents came branded with the Doctor Who logo in several variations. I also got this card from Paperlink, drawn by Steve Best. At first glance it is just a joke about relative dimensional properties of the TARDIS. A closer inspection, however, seems to reveal a subliminal message from the Doctor about Britain's plans for an ID card...

Read the full post - Published December 29, 2007 in Doctor Who, ID cards

Putting my money where my mouth used to be over ID cards
I don't know whether it will turn out to be one of the furthest-flung contributions, but a PledgeBank pledge I made a couple of years ago about ID cards has been called in. 'Hello, you have received this message because you signed my pledge, "I will refuse to register for an ID card and will donate £10 to a legal defence fund but only if 10,000 other people will also make this same pledge" back in 2005. In fact 11360...

Read the full post - Published November 28, 2007 in ID cards, Politics

ID Cards making the net a more dangerous place for kids
Easy to forge, lures child (and parents) into false sense of security. Stupid rip-off. Crystaltips sums it up pretty well on her del.icio.us link to a story from BBC News yesterday about a new online safety ID card being promoted for children. The ID scheme was set up by UK businessman Alex Hewitt after he discovered that his daughter could only verify the age and identity of a third of her 150 online friends. He said: "People want to feel...

Read the full post - Published August 4, 2006 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, ID cards, Web

The Queen's Speech announces the introduction of ID Cards from 2008
It is a rare day that finds me agreeing with not only the main opinion feature in the Evening Standard, but the editorial itself - as well as agreeing with a spokesman from the Shadow Cabinet during a two-way on Radio Five Live this evening. However, the announcement today that the government intend to push through legislation to allow for biometric ID cards in the UK before the next election makes it such a day. As the Evening Standard editorial...

Read the full post - Published November 23, 2004 in Evening Standard, ID cards, Politics

Technology in Tony Blair's Party Conference speech
Tomorrow's newspaper headlines will be full of protest, Iraq, and hunting when they discuss Tony Blair's keynote speech to the 2004 Labour Party Conference. Naturally it was the references to technology that pricked up my ears - and there were two in his section on "ten things a future Labour third term can do for Britain's hard-working families". At number seven: "ending the digital divide by bringing broadband technology to every home in Britain that wants it by 2008" That...

Read the full post - Published September 28, 2004 in ID cards, Politics, eGovernment

Operation Londinium at Stratford
One of the highlights of my day out to see the National Maritime Museum's The Adventures of Tintin at Sea exhibition, was a rare chance to travel on the futuristic Docklands Light Railway. It caused one of my friends to remark "This is how the future was sold to me as a kid - travelling through tunnels in a robot-driven train.". On the way home we got caught up in another vision of the future, although this time it was...

Read the full post - Published August 30, 2004 in ID cards, Politics, Transport

House of Commons Home Affairs Committee on UK ID Cards
So the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has been having a look at David Blunkett's plans to make us all own biometric data enabled ID cards. It doesn't make good reading, despite some of the headlines being that it is critical of the Government's plans. In fact on the whole it approves of them - the opening paragraph of the report's conclusion states that: "We believe that an identity card scheme could make a significant contribution to achieving the...

Read the full post - Published July 30, 2004 in ID cards, Politics

Privacy Awards and ID Cards
Oh the irony (or should that always now be d'oh the humanity?) of these two stories being published within an hour of each other - Privacy foes named and shamed and UK 'not ready' for ID card scheme One, a quick round-up of the UK Big Brother* awards from Privacy International, announced that Margaret Hodge had been named and shamed as our worst public servant, and was only able to honour the efforts of David Blunkett by renaming the Lifetime...

Read the full post - Published July 29, 2004 in ID cards, Politics

Spain to introduce pioneering electronic ID cards
This could be massive, Spain is thinking about putting out digital ID cards. "Spain will introduce pioneering electronic identity cards to help boost internet security by giving people unique digital signatures, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said on Friday. The 150 million euro ($192 million) scheme, due to be rolled out from 2005 after a pilot version at the end of this year, will replace current identity cards with a version that looks similar but carries a small chip packed...

Read the full post - Published February 14, 2004 in ID cards, Politics

Blunkett claims ID cards could have prevented cockle picker deaths
Never let it be said Home Secretary David Blunkett is one to pass up an opportunity to champion his schemes in the public domain. Today, in the wake of the deaths of cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay, he claimed ID cards could have prevented the deaths, and would: "ensure that anyone who was here couldn't actually present themselves for any other service or for work without identifying themselves properly" Yes, that's right. The man in charge of law and...

Read the full post - Published February 9, 2004 in ID cards, Politics

Identity Card statement to the House of Parliament by David Blunkett

Published November 11, 2003 in ID cards, Politics

Smartcards, standards, e-Government vs e-anything that doesn't work

Published August 14, 2003 in ID cards, eGovernment