Thursday, May 06, 2004
What a surprise... Glitches in ID card kit frustrate Blunkett's pod people.
Blunkett's evidence does not seem to have been particularly enlightening. It was, he said, largely the media's fault that the counter-terrorism aspects of the ID scheme had been given so much attention, and he cited a Today programme interview of 14.9.2003 where he claims he said that although the ID card and the Register (the other Register - Ed) would help, they would not resolve the terrorist threat.
This latest Blunkett stance is however somewhat undermined by the alacrity with which both he and the Prime Minister have used the terror threat as a wedge to win approval for the scheme and to accelerate its introduction. Blunkett's position on the card vis a vis terrorism therefore seems to be that it is a useful weapon against terror, but when asked to explain how it will be useful against terror, he retorts that he never said it was a complete fix, and that the terror aspect had been greatly over-emphasised by the media.
So, if Blunkett has changed his tune about terrorism (it was Madrid that made him and Blair claim that ID Cards needed to be brought in quicker. Now we have a situation where it would seem that he's accepted our arguments that ID Cards didn't prevent Madrid but he's still going ahead anyway) what is he going to do to stop terrorism? Concentration camps for the subversive people?
UPDATE: This Telegraph report seems to be more or less saying the same thing, 'long eyelashes' and 'watery eyes' give the system problems, suggesting that before you go to have your ID card done you should stop the hayfever medication a few days in advance.
Roland Sables, the project director, said that they were expecting a seven per cent failure rate with iris recognition.
OK, now just try to imagine what would happen if there were a seven per cent failure rate if everyone in Britain had a card. The 2001 census pegged the population of the UK at 58,789,194 people, which would mean just over 411,500 people (if my sums are right) would have ID cards with biometric data that wouldn't identify them. More if the 2011 census continues the upwards trend.
Meanwhile Shiteyes Blunkett has pretty much admitted that he's not being open about how much of the UK taxpayers money is going to go on this. The Home Office has previously put the cost of the system at more than £3 billion. Mr Blunkett, however, disclosed that this figure does not include the cost of thousands of biometric readers that will have to be installed in police stations, doctors' surgeries and public buildings. So Blunkett doesn't know how many illegal immigrants may or may not be coming into this country, but ID cards are supposed to stop that, tells everyone they won't stop terrorism, and at the moment will only admit to a cost to the public purse of three billion quid which he agrees isn't the final figure, even when he's charging you for the cost of this piece of plastic. So why won't you selfish bastards feel reassured that the Minister is saving you from terrorism?
Blunkett's evidence does not seem to have been particularly enlightening. It was, he said, largely the media's fault that the counter-terrorism aspects of the ID scheme had been given so much attention, and he cited a Today programme interview of 14.9.2003 where he claims he said that although the ID card and the Register (the other Register - Ed) would help, they would not resolve the terrorist threat.
This latest Blunkett stance is however somewhat undermined by the alacrity with which both he and the Prime Minister have used the terror threat as a wedge to win approval for the scheme and to accelerate its introduction. Blunkett's position on the card vis a vis terrorism therefore seems to be that it is a useful weapon against terror, but when asked to explain how it will be useful against terror, he retorts that he never said it was a complete fix, and that the terror aspect had been greatly over-emphasised by the media.
So, if Blunkett has changed his tune about terrorism (it was Madrid that made him and Blair claim that ID Cards needed to be brought in quicker. Now we have a situation where it would seem that he's accepted our arguments that ID Cards didn't prevent Madrid but he's still going ahead anyway) what is he going to do to stop terrorism? Concentration camps for the subversive people?
UPDATE: This Telegraph report seems to be more or less saying the same thing, 'long eyelashes' and 'watery eyes' give the system problems, suggesting that before you go to have your ID card done you should stop the hayfever medication a few days in advance.
Roland Sables, the project director, said that they were expecting a seven per cent failure rate with iris recognition.
OK, now just try to imagine what would happen if there were a seven per cent failure rate if everyone in Britain had a card. The 2001 census pegged the population of the UK at 58,789,194 people, which would mean just over 411,500 people (if my sums are right) would have ID cards with biometric data that wouldn't identify them. More if the 2011 census continues the upwards trend.
Meanwhile Shiteyes Blunkett has pretty much admitted that he's not being open about how much of the UK taxpayers money is going to go on this. The Home Office has previously put the cost of the system at more than £3 billion. Mr Blunkett, however, disclosed that this figure does not include the cost of thousands of biometric readers that will have to be installed in police stations, doctors' surgeries and public buildings. So Blunkett doesn't know how many illegal immigrants may or may not be coming into this country, but ID cards are supposed to stop that, tells everyone they won't stop terrorism, and at the moment will only admit to a cost to the public purse of three billion quid which he agrees isn't the final figure, even when he's charging you for the cost of this piece of plastic. So why won't you selfish bastards feel reassured that the Minister is saving you from terrorism?
