Millions of people in Britain will start receiving their compulsory national identity cards in only four years time under the detailed plans unveiled by the home secretary, David Blunkett, yesterday.
Under legislation to be published in January, the five million people who apply each year for a passport or driving licence will automatically be issued with an identity card and their personal details stored on a new national identity computer database.
Mr Blunkett made clear yesterday that they will also have to undergo hi-tech electronic eye and fingerprint scans to ensure that the new combined ID card/passport or driving licence cannot be forged.
The identity card will also be compulsory from 2007 for a further 4.6 million foreign nationals living in Britain.
Identity cards are not going to go away. They are here to stay and the government is adament to push them through. The government department I work for is classified where the Retina Eye Scan technology is what will be used to provide fool proof ID card accuracy. Yes thats right. This is not a pipe dream. This is already today's technology.
These new cards will be extremely hi tech and it WILL NOT be possible for anyone to copy them or forge someone elses ID because you, the owner are unique. Your fingerprints and retina details will ensure that these cards cannot be cloned and used by anyone else. This is a fact.
In ten years time you will get off an aircraft and upon exit to the landing hall you will hear the tanoy announce that you should remove any sunglasses or any item covering your eyes. From over 800 yards away a multiple scan will be in progress and it will be flicking through each traveller in recognition of their British Citizenship. All unrecognised travellers will be funnelled into numbered channels for country verification and status checks. Anyone travelling on a non chip compatible passport will be refused entry. All persons previously not having travelled to the UK will be recorded with a quick retina scan and finger prints taken.
To book into hospital, withdraw your cash, pay your bills - soon , in the not too distant future you will have one card that can do this - your ID card. Gradually, as you get used to your card and use it every day for standard ticket machines on public transport, vending machines ( it will act like a credit card across all vending machines ) etc, you will become resigned to the fact that this system is here to stay. In time your blood group, national insurance card and other personal details will be added to the card.
There are already plans to set up stations across the UK. Currently 18 of these are being administered in key cities and the scanners are being checked for compatibility with standard CCTV systems. Yes, you didn't know that but the new CCTV systems and those cameras that need replacing will feature retina ID from a distance of over 500 metres in all conditions, day or night.
Within 15 years your salary will be paid to your identity card and your tax will also be deducted from it. Your car log book, personal possessions and all important details including passport and travel will be incorporated within this one ID card.
Those that wish to escape. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. Other countries will adopt this system within a matter of a few years as countries around the world refuse entry to citizens of countries who do not provide fingerprinted and retina identification. You will conform. You will conform.
By 2035 your reliance on your ID card will be complete. Your house door will open with its insertion, your car will have no lock but an ID card slot and it will act upon the correct card insertion. All your bills will be paid on your ID account. Your card will work from any vending machine, shop or supermarket and cash will no longer be carried.
Terrorism has all but been wiped out. You cannot move these days without your ID card and wherever you move you are recorded by virtue of the fact that you use your credit card to spend your money. There are no fake credit cards or fake ID cards. They are just not available. They do not work. THe central computer and scanners can determine genuine or fake cards. Anyone caught with one ( impossible without the owners actual participation ) faces £15,000 fine or one years imprisonment. Any producer or persons caught replication or attempting to replicate the card face life imprisonment and confiscation of all monies and properties owned.
There will be no law insisting that you carry your ID card around with you - there is no need - your reliance on it is absolute. You could not survive without it. No one accepts cash any more. Even for items of only a few pence it is simpler to swipe your card through a machine than open a till and mess about with change.
Welcome to the future
About the Author
From the website of www.birminghamuk.com