(no subject)

[sarah_orange]

I don't put much politics up on here cos every knows I'm a lib-dem (hell I used to be an active one before I had a nightclub...) and people who only post about politics can be boring/patronising etc. But something a chap I know posted on Eddy's facebook suggesting the lib-dems didn't actually have any policies *really* pissed me off.

here's a link to their policy pocket book - an abridged (ie mostly lacking figures) version of their fully numbered manifesto.

I was just reading through it and I came across this bit. I knew all this already but I wondered how many people who aren't rabid lib-demmers like me knew it:

Introduce a Freedom Bill to restore and protect our civil liberties – Liberal Democrats
have put together all the freedoms that have been undermined by Labour and the Tories
in the last twenty years to restore them in a single Act of Parliament. We will scrap ID cards;
get innocent people off the DNA database; regulate CCTV; allow people to protest at
Parliament; stop councils from spying on people; and stop unfair extradition to the US. See
http://freedom.libdems.org.uk/

End plans to spy on your email and internet use – Labour want companies to store
information about your email and internet use – even storing data about what you do on
social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. This is a huge waste of money and
time, which we will scrap. We will ensure your private data is kept safe.

there you go that's me for today :)

Comments

[prosperine.livejournal.com]

The id card proposals were instead of changes to the infomration and the additional bimetric passport system. The system is outdated and needs a haul - either by cards or some other system . Personally, I'm happy with the card in principle.

[steer.livejournal.com]

OK -- still leaves the claim that scrapping ID cards will cost money because of changes to the passport system as untrue. Perhaps it is true that some limited part of the cost of ID cards will be needed should the UK adopt a biometric passport system.

[prosperine.livejournal.com]

Not really. Scrapping them will cost a lot of money. Labour have already spent a lot of time and money getting the system into place and amending the passport control to reflect the changes. A biometric system that covered the scope of id cards hasn't been quantified, neither has a system that would cover alternative limits. I don't see the lib dems rushing to explain what they would do instead - presumably ride their magic unicorns into parliamnet wave their rainbow wands and repeel the systems over night with absolutly no waste and no cost (save for the 2p rise on taxation which seems to cover everything!)

[steer.livejournal.com]

Actually they also plan to scrap the biometric passport. No magic unicorns necessary, simply not actually paying the vast amount of money for the system. Really, it's pretty simple and it saves money.

[prosperine.livejournal.com]

Wow. So just a scrapage of public spent moneys and a return to an outdated and already outmoded system which has been half implemented. Woot. Yep - that's definatly better than a magical unicorn.

Still, I guess when you have no hope of getting in you don't have worry about the maths making sense

[steer.livejournal.com]

The moneys have not been spent yet -- far from it. If you were right on that you'd have a point. However, since the ID implementation money has not in fact been spent it's pretty much pure saving however you slice it.

I don't know what you believe biometric ID cards will bring since their security has already been broken but there you go -- to me it's the ID cards which are the magic unicorn in this scenario and expensive magic unicorns at that.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, I don't know if you follow UK politics at all but the Conservative party are also committed to scrap ID cards (and the national identity register). Some people believe they have a chance of getting elected.

[edwards.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't scrapping the biometric passport cause a few issues with popular tourist destinations? For example, you can't enter the US without an existing machine readable passport (if issued after 2006, "Biometric", though the standards are still inconsistent).

People pay for passports. Correctly managed the system should be low-cost; I can see no reason why passport renewal every 5 years instead of every 10 would be a significant issue if it moved the system closer to self-sufficiency. Extending the full biometric data to an ID card as well (bearing in mind we already have photocard licences for driving/riding motorbikes) would mean little additional data being retained by the state yet provide a useful legal document.

I'm against the mess that Labour have historically made of such schemes, but an ID card in itself really doesn't scare me. I can see it being more useful, than damaging.