back to article Johnson signs off ID card for UK citizenry

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has shown off the design for the national ID card for British citizens. The government has already dished out 50,000 cards to foreign nationals resident in the UK. For British citizens the card will look like this: id card mockup Johnson also said that residents of Northern Ireland would be able …

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  1. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    So what is the best way ...

    What is the best way to fry the chips on these cards without leaving a trace? If I give a card a 20 seconds blast in the microwave oven can anyone detect that was done?

  3. Bilgepipe
    FAIL

    Didn't we already have one?

    Anyone notice that this is virtually identical to the driving license? Why didn't they just upgrade that?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Irish?

    I trust that in the interests of equality or human rights or something, there will be similar options provided for the rest of us that may wish to be English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, etc, etc, etc...

  5. Greg J Preece

    If I end up with one of these

    It'll be straight in the microwave. Bye bye, Mr RFID. Fuck that thing right in one of its security holes.

  6. LuMan
    Thumb Down

    Fingerprints?

    Hmm.. So we'll have to provide fingerprints, will we? I'm sure there's absolutely NO chance, whatsoever, that these will wind up with the Met, to be stored on their NoWeDon'tKeepPersonalInformationOnPeople database.....

    Now, where did I put that acid...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Irish if you want

    "Johnson also said that residents of Northern Ireland would be able to apply for a card which describes them as Irish, if they wished to"

    what about residents of England etc who want to be described as "Irish" or do you actually ahve to be Irish first?

  8. Onionman
    Grenade

    Forget the cost

    What right have my elected representatives to pass laws that will require me to prove my identity on request? Anyone who thinks it won't become compulsory go to the back of the class.

    O

  9. Antony 2
    WTF?

    Calm down, calm down

    Irish? I'm Scouse, can I get that on mine, like kidda?

  10. Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face
    Grenade

    I propose...

    We should all legally change our first name to "X" and our last name to "X". For legal purposes we can be registered as "no fixed abode". Belt sander on the finger ends.

    Then watch them scratch their pointy haired heads.

  11. The Vociferous Time Waster
    Flame

    to translate

    you won't be paying for this shit out of your taxes, you will be paying for it _as well as_ your taxes

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    no flags but ...

    Ok, so the card doesn't have a union flag on it as they don't want to offended anyone so use "neutral" symbols of the countries namely: rose, thistle, shamrock and daffoldil. However, nothing I've read so far is specific on the colour of the rose .... is it likely to offend lancastrians, yorkist or perhaps both.

  13. EvilGav 1

    What ??

    "will be covered by the fee income it generates"

    It's not fucking fee income, it's a bloody tax on living in and being British.

    I'm not paying for a card to live in my country of birth, but i'll give the silly bint tuppence to buy a clue.

  14. Jacqui Smith's DVD Collection!
    FAIL

    It expires!

    So this card is only valid for 10 years, like a passport, does that mean I would have to renew my passport and this lesser ID as well?

    Btw from the headline I was wondering if they had recruited Boris as their latest half arsed attempt to sell these things to the public (he does stray from the party line), I'm sure there's a group of lobbyists handing out massive backhanders behind this shit.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The very first shop in Manc to demand ID from me....

    To buy a tin of beer or some spoons will simply loose my business. The ifs and buts are in short supply on this issue.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Fingerprints

    Did you know that fingerprints have not been proven scientifically to be absolutely unique. Also, only a certain number of unique identification points for each fingerprint are stored, so the chance of an overlap increases. Yes, the current population of fingerprinted people is large, but the checks that are carried out are used to help identify the criminal and if a number of similar matches arise but the criminal is one of them, then that's taken as proof of identify. When the whole country is fingerprinted, and the purpose becomes that of proven identify, then when similar matches arise what is the actual identify of the individual?

  17. Grease Monkey Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Once more...

    Like I said about the big scary comms database this morning, how have they managed to spend £200m on a project that doesn't even have a sound business case?

    It works like this:

    1. Idea.

    2. Spend lots (most of which is wasted on dead ends, focus groups and "consultants")

    3. Implement.

    4. Test. (Repeat 3&4 until it works properly - rather than just doing 4 first and then doing 3 once)

    5. Run it for a while until something useful happens.

    6. Write retrospective business case citing the useful thing that happened in 5 as you main driver and product.

    7. Whitewash public enquiry where necessary.

  18. A 11
    FAIL

    issued in 2006?

    Why does a design they're unveiling now have an issue date of 2006?

  19. Michael 28
    Happy

    @I propose

    ...Mr Pudden Tame for me , by deed poll.

  20. Jacqui

    Elizabeth Henderson

    Lets *all* change our names to Elizabeth Henderson by deed poll.

    Then The plods will know which are fakes - anyone not names Liz :-)

    Jacqui^WLiz

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Been there, done that

    Here in Italy everyone has an ID card, even if it's made of paper and not fitted with RFID. If you don't show it to policemen (upon request) they can arrest you.

    And we have to pay to have one, even if it's compulsory to have one.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Wrong shape?

    Might be better to take all the square corners off the cards. It'll be less messy when they're shoved up the Home Secs a*rse!

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Its plastic not paper

    So the fuzz etc can't ask for "papers please" *

    And the ensuing ruckuss that would be caused.

    *for those of you Iwho came to Blighty after the last war, you'llknow this as "Ihre Papeire, Bitte"

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Happy to oblige...

    'Issue 2 - July 2009: ID Matters' (Home Office mailshot):

    http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/rde/xchg/ips_live/hs.xsl/id-matters-issue2.htm#films

    Quote:

    "We'd love you to tell us what films would be in your top ten about identity. Email us now."

    To: <webmaster@ips.gsi.gov.uk>

    Subject: 'email us with your top ten films about identity'

    My personal favourites are 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1984) and 'The Last Enemy'.

    http://www.lovefilm.com/film/The-Last-Enemy/96687/

  25. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    RE: Fingerprints

    Fingerprints are Unique AFAIK (well thats what i was always taught), but yes the number of points of identification are important, but it just means they can narrow the search for the miscreant down to a more manageable level, if it narrows it down to one good but they will still have to do a manual check or it gets thrown out at court and annoys them.

    Its like DNA testing, points of comparison are usefull but just indicate probability, more usefull in discounting. With the whole of the UK on a database with DNA, Fingerprinted and Iris'd eventually they will be able to charge us for oxygen usage. Bastards!

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sorry!

    That last link should have been:

    http://www.lovefilm.com/film/The-Last-Enemy/96687/details

  27. kingwahwah
    Grenade

    This will not stop a terrorist or...

    ...other menaces to society.

    I take issue with the word "income" from a government department.

    I've just come off another government driven project that was as pointless and hated as this....Home information packs. They are clueless.

    "Anyone notice that this is virtually identical to the driving license? Why didn't they just upgrade that?" I agree but it would too much sense.

  28. Hywel Thomas
    Thumb Down

    V for Vendetta was on last night

    Shit film, but compelling message.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not from me they won't!!!

    "We have always been very open about ID card costs and recently published the annual ID card costs report. All the operational costs of issuing the cards will be covered by the fee income it generates."

  30. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @Grease Monkey

    You almost got it right...try it this way:

    1. Idea.

    1.1 Whitewash

    2. Spend lots (most of which is wasted on dead ends, focus groups and "consultants")

    2.1 Whitewash

    3. Implement.

    3.1 Whitewash

    4. Test. (Repeat 3&4 until it works properly - rather than just doing 4 first and then doing 3 once)

    4.1 Whitewash

    5. Run it for a while until something useful happens.

    5.1 Whitewash

    6. Write retrospective business case citing the useful thing that happened in 5 as you main driver and product.

    6.1 Whitewash

    7. Whitewash public enquiry where necessary.

    7.1 Whitewash over again.

  31. Captain Mainwaring
    Stop

    And we need this why Mr Johnson?

    It is said that 85% of the population have either a Passport, a Driving Licence or both. This means that a majority of us already have government-issued identification that is widely accepted throughout Society already. Why does this government consider it necessary to spend Billions of Pounds of additional money on yet another plastic card, yet another set of government beurocracy, yet another intrusive state database? It's not like that UK PLC is flush with loads of spare cash that it can fritter away on a dubious vanity project. Come on, we would all like to hear from you on this one Mr Johnson!

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Irish

    For those not in the know the reason that there is a distinction for NI is that those born in N.I. also qualify as citizens of the Republic of Ireland under both the Irish Constitution, and the recent peace agreement. So this is not about what you choose to call yourself, it's catering for citizens of N.I. who have dual nationality. For example a lot of people in N.I. like myself carry Irish passports, not UK ones.

  33. David Webb

    Citizen

    I object to being called a "citizen", I am a British Subject, god save the Queen!

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Another innovative retail opportunity

    Labour are as full of bright, new innovative things to spend your money on as Tesco's etc. Except tht while tesco can't make it's disgusting pre-prepared food a compulsory purchase, Labour can foist whatever garbage they want on us and hand a nice monopolistic little earner to whatever breathless capitalist twatdangle comes up with the most convincing argument for their version of "repression for profit and pleasure."

    War profiteers tend to end up with a reputation that dogs them for decades. I would hope the suppliers for the ID cards project would be smeared with the same long lasting stench of unpolished turd.

  35. Steve Loughran
    FAIL

    Anyone with Irish grandparents may have a get-out clause

    If you have any grandparent born anywhere in Ireland -or, like me, born in Northern Ireland before 1922, you qualify for an Irish passport. Which means: no need to get a new UK passport when an existing one expires, hence no ID card.

    If all of us who qualify for such passports went for it, it would blow a hole in their "no fingerprints, no passports" plans

  36. Ponmyword
    Big Brother

    Alternative implementation

    Any MP who voted for ID cards ought to have it branded onto their forehead and the RFID chip surgically implanted into their rectum.

    Not too extreme, surely?

  37. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Big Brother

    If and when ...

    ... these become compulsory, I'm going to grit my teeth and carve extremely offensive messages into my finger tips with a hot needle before getting scanned. The pain will be worth it, and in a few month's or so time the prints will have recovered, won't match ( causing no end of aggravation to authority ), but the message will be left on their database and in the card for anyone looking.

  38. Grumpytom
    Grenade

    Be a long f... in time before

    Be a long fuckin' time before I carry one!

    This recent resurgence of state terror and budding fascism has led me to re read 1984, Animal farm, & just starting "Liberal Fascism"

    One thing in common - it always comes from out of the left field, sooner we get rid of these God Damned pseudo commies the better.

  39. Ken Hagan Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Questions, questions...

    I'm a quarter Irish. Is that enough? (How about if I'm not very good at football?) If I lived in NI, but had no Irish ancestry, would I be able to claim for "Irishness"? How many other countries can we think of that insisted on residents carrying a piece of paper detailing their ancestry? Were any of them nice places to live in?

  40. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Specimen

    I'm glad they overprinted the sample "Specimen". Do they really think that (a) we're all going to rush off to our inkjet printers and run off copies, and (b) that having that overprint will actually delay any would-be forgers?

    I know that old habits die hard, but it does seem like an anachronistic kind of protection.

  41. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Flame

    Sure...

    They'll say that they are non-compulsory, but sooner or later (if it hasn't already happened) the plan will become to roll them out by stealth. This will be by Govt. departments and cronyist business allies only allowing access to their services if you have one as the normal ways to prove identity will be sneakily recinded to give you no choice. So...

    No ID card = No ability to open an account with a new bank.

    No ID card = No ability to apply for a new credit card.

    No ID card = No ability to do online tax returns or car tax renewals.

    No ID card = No new mobile phone contract.

    No ID card = No online flight bookings from UK operators.

    etc...

    If any of you trust this "non mandatory" bullshit from Labour after the stunts they have pulled over the last 7 years then you deserve what you get.

  42. Richard 12 Silver badge

    But that is it FOR?

    I've asked my local MP Stephen Pound this several times.

    So far, the closest to an answer was:

    "An effective and low cost method of establishing one's identity would be massively advantageous and would obviate the need for my son to carry his passport around and for me to have to constantly proffer my European driving licence." - Stephen Pound MP (12 Feb 2009)

    Which not only isn't an answer, it's also wrong.

  43. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Joke

    So you now have a picture of the thing to forge.

    Fine work. Carry on.

  44. itbod
    FAIL

    What a load of poop

    ID card should also have RSA style 2 factor authentication built in also (like pn + token no). Would be a boon for accessing websites . Secure transaction etc.

    77 quid or whatever it is is a f*cking ripoff for a bit of paper / plastic.

  45. dave 151
    Thumb Down

    @no flags but

    " is it likely to offend lancastrians, yorkist or perhaps both."

    Well i can only speak for the Yorkist faction, but we tend to be offended by absolutely anything. Loudly.

    These twats are just trying to make it as complicated and expensive as possible for the next supreme leader to undo. Love to know how many of the current mob are on the payroll of ID tech companies. Blunket rings a bell for one.

  46. Martin 19
    Big Brother

    Oohh, can I have "Brummie" as my nationality?

    Or perhaps I should join the nation of "Get to fuck you statist cunts"? I hear it's popular these days..

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Killing RFIDs

    The best way to undetectably kill an RFID is to whack it with a hammer. Microwaves work, but have a tendency to melt cards or show burn marks on passports.

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All your details are belong to us

    And will be left on a train at our earliest opportunity.

    Tough on terrorism, tough on the causes of terrorism. If you're on the database, you're guilty of something. What, I strayed from the "Known or Suspected Terrorists" file to the "Anybody who wants to leave the country has to be Planning Something" file?

    Oops, silly me.

  49. Armus Squelprom
    Big Brother

    The final contempt for the public

    They would rather continue to waste our money on this pathetic face-saving 'voluntary' card than admit it's a failed idea and redirect the money to useful stuff like army helicopters, hospital beds etc. This rather brutally reveals the contempt our masters have for us.....

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Re: Fingerprints

    Happy birthday!

    You might like to look up something called the Birthday Paradox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem

    It basically means that chance matches are much more likely than might usually be anticipated. Take a class of 20 pupils, and there are 190 opportunities for there to be a pair of pupils who happen, by chance, to have the same birthday. Hardly surprising if a lot of classes happen to have that seemingly unlikely coincidence occuring in them.

    It's relevant to DNA profiles as well. Here are some recent comments on this:-

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/15/dna_figures/comments/#c_537913

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/15/dna_figures/comments/#c_538966

    Paris - birthday suit.

  51. NogginTheNog
    Thumb Down

    @ "IT expires!"

    Add to that list the photocard driving licence - I just had to renew mine (another 20 bloody quid) just 'cos I got older and they deem the photo will need updating.

    Friggin' money grabs the lot of 'em.

  52. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now that's magic

    I thought this plan had been consigned to the bin where it belonged? So how did ID cards magic themselves back into existence while we were asleep?

  53. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    What's plan B?

    Tattoo a barcode on your forehead?

  54. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The day will hopefully come...

    ...when Jerk-Off Johnson, his predecessors and Brown are brought to justice for what must be a criminal waste of tax payers money and a total disregard for public opinion (that's true public opinion, not your noddy land make believe statistics). Facist Fookers one an' all.

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Sleepwalking into a Police State

    Coronation Street is set in Manchester sooo, who will be the first to get an ID card in this soap. Are the gubmint going to force the script writers to sell the idea of ID cards being a Good Thing thru Corrie ? Will the Corrie writers create a stink about this?

    Looking at the wikipedia entry for Alan Johnson it says :

    He joined the Labour Party in 1971, although he considered himself a Marxist ideologically aligned with the Communist Party of Great Britain.

    Nuff said.

    AC for obvious reasons [I read elreg and that could be useful to a terrorist]

  56. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Passports

    Even if the ID cards fail, the next time your passport expires, they won't grant you a new one unless you provide fingerprints.

    Looks like you've got 3 options to avoid the biometric database:

    1) Don't renew, trapping yourself in the country

    2) Flee before your passport expires

    3) Mass civil disorder

    I've left and I'm never coming back, no matter how much I miss proper beer, cider and steak and ale pies.

  57. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face

    I'm all for it, if it means I'll be able to play the guitar like Tony Iommi.

  58. Ken Hagan Gold badge

    Re: Irish

    Ta to those who explained the Irish citizenship issue. I'm not sure how much it explains the card though. If you have sufficiently republican leanings to want "Irish" on your card, and are entitled to carry an Irish passport that EU law means is as good as the card, are you really going to voluntarily pay out hard cash to label yourself as a UK citizen?

    Can't see it myself, but then, much of the Troubles seemed puzzling to me as well, so maybe I'm just not as Irish as I thought.

  59. Steve W
    Thumb Down

    How many parts?

    Ok, so it's going to be modelled on the UK Driving Licence. Does this mean that we have to carry around the ID Card as well as the A4-sized piece of paper that comes with the card? After all, we can't have Plod saying "Your card is not in order" ; it just doesn't sound the same.

  60. John 73
    FAIL

    10 year expiry?

    Will this card really last 10 years? ISTR that the chipped passports carry chips that are guaranteed by the manufacturer for only 3 years or something like that. Will these ID cards be any different? And will we be forced to renew them when the chip dies (which also bears rather strongly on the "fry the chip" discussion)? Passports don't have to have a working chip to be valid, but will this be true of the ID cards?

  61. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Onionman

    "What right have my elected representatives to pass laws that will require me to prove my identity on request?"

    A fair question. But you overlook that MPs are *not* your elected representatives. Your MP is, usually, one of two people the major political parties offered you and your fellow constituents. No matter which of the two you chose, you would still get much the same mixture of policies - whether you want them or not.

    A real elected representative would be someone whom you and your fellow constituents chose freely, from among all the people in the world, on the grounds that (s)he would faithfully represent your interests.

    Good luck getting a candidate like that from either of our wonder political parties.

  62. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Re: Fingerprints

    "Fingerprints are Unique AFAIK (well thats what i was always taught)"

    Yes, that's what you were always taught.

    So you should be able to point us to the results of the Scientific trials carried out to prove this theory then?

    Didn't think so, as there has never been one.

    Fingerprints have never been proven to be unique, it's just been assumed that they are.

  63. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    They can ram it up their arse

    There is no way in hell this will ever stop terrorists (not that we are under any real threat here, just now). You are much more at risk from your own (and other people's) poor driving than your are from some freak from darkest Dhurkastan.

    It's not even any good at stopping fraud, it looks like it will cost W-A-Y more than what it would save.

    So why do the utter fuckers in Westminster want it? What agenda are they working to? Is it some dark conspiracy, or it is just that our thieving, fraudster MPs want some lucrative directorships and back-handers? I suggest you invoke Occam's Razor.

    Speaking as a pure-blood Irish person who was raised in the Middle East (Salama-laykum) I wonder what mine will say ,"Naturalised Raghead Paddy Terrorist Suspect - Detain and rectal probe"?

    If we got the likes of the CDC to stop fecking around with shopping malls and doing what they are supposed to be doing (which is to stimulate/support grassroots agricultre/business and eradicate poverty) then we might not have any worries from any terrorists (of course, there will always be some nutters; but you get those here as well; IRA, ETA, UVF...).

    There is no need to live in fear, there is nothing to fear. Yes, shit happens. It has always happened. It will always happen. Life is like that. Get over it and move on. No database, CCTV network, or tracking through sub-dermal RFID chips is ever going to stop shit from happening.

    no2id - defend yourself, your country and your future

  64. HFoster
    Thumb Down

    The Fourth Reich

    Welcomes Careful Drivers

  65. A J Stiles
    Grenade

    Name the TV series

    "I haven’t broken any law. I know who I am, and I don’t have to prove that to anyone!"

    (This is what you need to say when asked for ID papers.)

    Seriously, what's the difference between being subject to be stopped anytime by the authorities demanding identification, and being in prison?

  66. peter 45

    What no EU logo

    I thought we were all part of the great EUotocracy....so why no EU logo?

    Does this mean we will not be able to use this card for traveling through europe insetad of a passport?

  67. Chris Priest
    FAIL

    ID cards.....

    What a complete and utter load of bollocks...

    Nuff said....

  68. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Big Brother

    I can hear

    the cry of 'papers please'

    Followed by 'these details dont match your papers, we'll have to arrest you for further questioning"

    Followed by "You will tell us what we want to know english pigdog"

    Followed by "We're sorry but he was shot while escaping"

  69. codemonkey
    Pirate

    Kick and scream...

    Well, let us pass comment... That'll fix it... That'll stop the Stalinistic bunch of twats doing exactly what they want for their own best interests. Just speak about it. Yeah.

    SURE!

    Action is needed. Collective action. Action that combines humans with humans. Action that coalesces us around our common needs.

    We don't need more "army helicopters" as Armus Squelprom suggested above. If that's not the most blatant example of non-joined-up-thinking that I've ever read, I've no idea what is. Let us do the maths Armus, MONEY to boys club for ID cards or MONEY to boys club for WEAPONS. Either way the masses are oppressed / killed and EITHER way TAX paying money goes to THE BOYS CLUB.

    For "the boys club" you can feel free to read "ruling class", if you like. And very specifically, NOT YOU:) Or me for that matter:)

    Peace.

    I'm Connected

  70. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: What's plan B

    "Tattoo a barcode on your forehead?"

    This would be a retrograde step in terms of technology, harking back to the Nazis' preferred method of providing unique IDs for concentration camp inmates by means of a tattoo on the forearm.

    Our new masters in concentration camp UK.plc have fully embraced the new technology and applied it with complete disregard for our civil liberties so don't be surprised when they suddenly discover that in order to 'fully protect' us from all the religious fundamentalists walking our streets and to save administrative costs it will be necessary to implement a programme of neo-natal RFID implanting in maternity wards.

    The only case in which the old technology could be justifiably applied would be for the useless turds who are supposed to be protecting our interests in parliament. A meeting of red-hot branding iron, and MPs' foreheads would be justice well served.

  71. Adam 52 Silver badge

    @AC 15:41, @Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    Suggest you read the Act, or previous Reg coverage. Until identity cards become compulsory it's illegal to demand one as a prerequisite to anything.

  72. A J Stiles
    FAIL

    @ Adam 52

    Just because there is a law saying something, doesn't mean it's gonna happen.

    And I notice you said "until", as opposed to "unless". It certainly looks as though identity cards will end up becoming compulsory sooner rather than later.

  73. Slugster
    Paris Hilton

    Labour party = money grabbin toads

    In the old days the Conservative party would secretly screw us e.g. keep quiet about new laws, take backhanders underneath the arches (!) etc. Labour seems to enjoy publicly rubbing it in our faces e.g. John Prescott sticking tudor beams to his house paid for by us the taxpayer. Fat pie-eating w*nker. And now these cards. Waving them about like they are the bloody Oracle at Delphi.

    We all know that the ID cards will not work. They will not reduce the terrorist threat. They will not help better identify anyone. We already have our driving license IDs, our passports and our faces recorded on more CCTVs than in friggin China. Our local calls are recorded. Our mobile phones tapped - and geo-located. Just how far do they want to go? The answer is as far as it takes to make as much dosh as possible.

    This ain't cricket my friends.

    I have some suggestions for those wishing to change your name:

    Mr F. U. Government

    Miss X. Zxcygghhdz (just to watch the copper try to pronounce it then shout "Racist" when he can't so he gets sent back to "Diversity" class)

    Mr Gordon Brown

    Mr Ivor B. Cock

    Elizabeth Henderson (of course)

    Boris Bulletdodger

    Ivan Terrible

    U.R. Gay (great response to coppers "What is your name"? - and you have the ID to prove it)

    I would love to hear other suggestions from the El Reg readers.

    Paris? - cos even she looks depressed at the news.

  74. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Balls to Alan Johnson

    Well the background to the Act (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/en/ukpgaen_20060015_en_1) does say that the scheme was introduced with the intention of making it compulsory at some stage.

    The only thing I can think of that would make that not happen is civil disobedience.

    Which is fine by me because I neither want, nor will have, this fucking card registered in my name.

    (Unless, of course, someone steals my identity and uses it to register the card in 'my' name).

  75. EdwardP
    Flame

    When I get mine...

    I'm just going to use the RFID chip for all the fun things you can do with RFID.

    Ride the train for fee, with my jailbroken NID Oyster card.

    Let myself into important government buildings with my jailbroken NID skellington key.

    Create the "Anti-ID" card. All you need to do is find out the standard card reader/software to be dsitributed to officals, get one, do a little testing and find a DoS/Buffer overrun. Then, think of a fun payload, put it on the card, and now every time an official tries to read the card you're either crashing or executing your payload on their machines.

    If they do force us, the last thing I'm going to use my ID for is ID.

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