John Lettice's comprehensive overview of the government's newly-announced e-Borders initiative, Blair's Britain vies with US in ID snoop wars, is in turns both terrifying and depressing. Blair, Blunkett et al. are steaming ahead with a scheme that far exceeds even US-VISIT (read Privacy International's analysis of that here) in its scope for surveillance of the general population.
And they're not even trying to walk before they run.
Project Semaphore, also announced yesterday, intends to track SIX MILLION people - beginning by the end of this year! I know the US is applying pressure on every other country to issue their citizens with biometric passports by the end of 2005 (we got a year's grace when the chips weren't ready in time), but emulating and then exceeding the worst aspects of Homeland Security has got to be the daftest response ever.
How much is this all going to cost? If just smartcards for UK citizens and one database will cost £3.1 billion (and the rest!) then the cost of e-Borders must be truly enormous. Where's the cost/benefit analysis? What *are* the benefits? And if it's intended to link in with ID cards (which it is) then just how much MORE of our personal data will be transferred to other countries for them to do with as they see fit, every time we travel?
Philip Chaston's, It's the Database, Stupid! on both White Rose and Samizdata.net raises some good points about what a couple of the speakers said, most notably:
Both were unable to provide a convincing story as to why the government was introducing this measure. Without understanding the motives behind the development of the ID scheme, it will prove far more difficult to halt or reverse.
Uncovering the government's (not so) hidden agendas is one line of attack - and, as Philip acknowledges, there is no one simple answer. New Labour are very definitely fans of 'centralising control through data' - but I am certain that all governments fall prey to this, to some degree. It's the nature of any bureacracy to perpetuate itself, and managing everyone's identity is pretty much the mother of all bureaucratic moves. So much so that it takes a large step towards authoritarianism, even totalitarianism...
I don't believe that there is some highly organised plot in the UK (or globally) by a sinister 'them' who wish to control every aspect of our lives. Rather I think that opportunist politicians, heavily influenced by companies who stand to make enormous profits and civil servants who sniff a gravy train in the making, are being fooled into thinking that technological 'quick fixes' can dig them out of problems that are either of their own making (through poor management or bad decision-making) or so complex that no single initiaive can hope to have any effect.
Those in power are rarely smart enough to understand the full implications of what they are doing, and even if they are they know that (a) they are nowadays unlikely ever to be held accountable for their actions, so long as they are fairly near the top of the Westminster pile, and (b) it's probably worth doing anyway as a step towards making their name, gaining position or garnering a lucrative Directorship or two when they leave office - the public/media memory for all but the biggest cock-ups being so short.
Of course, individuals such as Blunkett and Blair are driven by a more messianic sense of self-belief than most and are therefore doubly dangerous. But they are not actually evil, and I'm sure that they genuinely believe that they are doing things for the best. They're deluded and wrong, and lots of us know it - which is why we have to do something about it.
What might be the possible motives / agendas behind the current ID scheme, then? Here's a list, in no particular order:
1) Stephen Harrison, Katherine Courtney, et al. at the Home Office see a chance to head up a multibillion pound department of 1,000s (if not 10,000s!) in a job that will make them for life - and probably come with a gong or two if they don't spectacularly screw the pooch in the meanwhile.
2) David Blunkett 'sees' an opportunity to be seen to be tackling a whole bunch of issues. His Christian Stalinist (paternalistic / authoritarian) principles mean that he's entirely comfortable with trampling over the rights of the (good) many in pursuit of the (bad) few. The problem is that he can't actually show how what he's doing is actually going to help, and can't make a strong and consistent case for ID cards without keeping secrets - the figleaf of 'commercial confidentiality' - or making wild assertions, retracting them, then alluding to them again - e.g. on terrorism. ID cards, then, as political panacea.
3) Who in government gets to control citizen IDs? Maybe the various schemes currently in development - the Children's Bill, ONS's Citizen Information Project, etc. - reveal some sort of intragovernmental struggle for supremacy. Whichever department ends up running the database will effectively 'own' the population: HO vs. IR/Customs vs. DH vs. ??? Even the new e-Envoy Chief Information Officer, Ian Watmore, is saying that the government's plans look nothing like 'joined-up thinking'!
4) New Labour are, by now, incapable of making an objective decision about any technology-based scheme - having been lobbied so hard by suppliers and the mega-consultancies, who stand to make enormous profits from any scheme that goes ahead. The tech companies are falling over themselves to land this one, which may explain why Mr Blunkett's costings are so commercially sensitive - they don't want anyone knowing how deeply discounted (and therefore unrealistic) some of the costs actually are. You would think that by now someone in government would be smelling a rat, with all the overruns and overspends on IT projects. Wake up! These companies may quote you a low price, but we all know it's going to cost several to many times more by the time the job's 'done'.
[This one's been sitting in Draft for too long, but it seemed worth publishing as is. Please add any other motives or agendas that you think may be involved...]
Our friends at Spy Blog and White Rose both wrote up the NO2ID public launch on Saturday. WTWU's account, NO2ID campaign launched to the public even has pictures - well, one at least: here.
Philip Chaston's, It's the Database, Stupid! on both White Rose and Samizdata.net goes into more detail and raises some good points, which I shall address in another post...
Sounds too good to be true? Well, it's a little more complicated than going down to PC World, but a genuine DTI tax break nonetheless.
Patrick Collinson's article Screen savers in the Guardian on Saturday explains the scheme. Essentially, it's a way for your employer to bulk-buy PCs and lease them to you via your pay packet over 3 years - saving you 33% in (basic rate) tax & NI. After a notional £50 payoff at the end of the lease period, the kit is yours - free and clear. Your employer even gets to claim back the VAT!
Send your boss on over to the DTI website and start picking out your dream machine...
Come to NO2ID's launch event as advertised on Upcoming.org, Indymedia and the NO2ID site.
Kick-off is at 11:00am on Saturday 18th September at The Corner Store, 33 Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7BN (nearest tube, Covent Garden - although Embankment, Temple and Charing Cross are all only about 5 mins walk away). There'll be speakers, etc. in the a.m. followed by lunch, then folks will be heading off to various parts of central London to do campaign-y things...
T-shirts, badges & stickers will be available on the day - as will shed loads of our shiny new leaflets. Come along, show your support and hit the streets. Let's get things started!