ID Card update

Why are the standards of customer service so appalling in this shitty country? I am in the process of swapping my broadband provider. I have fallen out with Wanadoo over what started as a small complaint, but due to their inability to deal with it in a way that could be considered even remotely proficient, has escalated into a serious grievance on my part. I’ll not bore you with the details, but I think I can say without fear of libel that Wanadoo are a total shower of incompetent bastards. Swayed by all the adverts about people returning to BT because of how great they are, I take my custom to them. BT assure me that my line will be dead for barely half an hour during the change-over. That would be too much to expect though wouldn’t it. Wanadoo cut me off early yesterday morning and BT still haven’t connected me yet. Thank god I have internet access at work. Well, thank the IT department anyway, as I doubt god micro-manages to this scale. I certainly wouldn’t if I was the divine one. After creating the whole universe in seven days I’d still be relaxing with a phatty and a G&T, or chasing nymphs round the garden of Eden, that sort of thing. But I digress.

So, ID cards. The ID card Bill will be debated in the Commons tonight and MPs will vote on whether or not the Bill gets a third reading. This will be a test of balls for backbench Labour MPs many of whom have serious doubts over the need for a scheme, its cost and the potential for it all turning into a shambolic farce. How un-British would that be eh? I hope wavering MPs have seen these stories.

According to the BBC the technology is still far from perfect despite what the Home Office tells us. If you have brown eyes or are bald the scanners may not recognise you. As a brown-eyed baldy I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. This story follows the revelations in May that the scanners have trouble identifying black, elderly and disabled people.

Worse news for the government comes via The Scotsman who report that Microsoft have raised major doubts over the security and integrity of the proposed database. Microsoft may be seen as the anti-christ by many, but they know about computers don’t they. Jerry Fishenden from Microsoft states that putting so much of our personal and biometric information in one place is a ridiculously risky thing to do and could actually increase the amount of fraud rather than reduce is. As Jerry says “Unlike other forms of information, such as credit card details, if core biometric details such as your fingerprints are compromised, it is not going to be possible to provide you with new ones".

The case for ID cars is yet to be convincingly made. All we know for sure is that our civil liberties will be eroded for no proven benefit. Join the NO2ID campaign and fight against this government’s fascist agenda.