ID cards may lead to a "surveillance society" ...

... says the Information Commissioner for England and Wales, Richard Thomas. I am even more alarmed when I read someone in his position writing:

"My anxiety is that we don't sleepwalk into a surveillance society where much more information is collected about people, accessible to far more people shared across many more boundaries, than British society would feel comfortable with. "The government has changed its line over the last two or three years as to what the card is intended for. "You have to have clarity. Is it for the fight against terrorism? Is it to promote immigration control? Is it to provide access to public benefits and services?"

David Blunkett, Tony Blair and those that think like them, definitely need to be watched. Why is all this information necessary and will it serve any useful purpose? Useful, that is, to the citizen, not solely for the purpose of allowing the state even greater control over our lives. This government has a record of trying to smear individuals who speak out against it; we fool ourselves if we think that an ID card system will not be abused if the government sees advantage in doing so.