mandatory ID cards:

artanevilla wrote: »

I'll carry my passport if I need to travel abroad, its the sovereign right of a state to control its borders and the right of someone to travel those borders, with that right comes the responsibility of carrying a passport.

However, in my own country, as a free society, I have the right to privacy and that should extend to me being able to walk down the street without having to identify myself. This is obviously coupled with the responsibility that I obey the law.

There seems to be an odd mental block here where people can't separate the notion of having to identify yourself everywhere you go and having to carry ID.

Currently if a garda has sufficient reason he can demand that you identify yourself. That wouldn't change.

Currently that can be quite difficult as people are not required to carry ID so the garda my have to rely on easily forged documents or forgo identification.

When you can be asked to identify yourself wouldn't change just the reliability of that information when you do have to provide it. This isn't complicated.

I don't particularly feel like living in a police state. Not sure why anyone else would either.
There are a LOT of everyday scenarios in which one would want to be economical with the truth about their full name / age, many of them having nothing to do with any legal issues, and I for one would find it very creepy if I was obliged to carry a certificate with me at all times proving otherwise.

No no, you're still a witness, but one who has broken the law.

Like when you're driving your car but realise upon seeing a checkpoint that you've forgotten your licence. Though perhaps because most people are trustworthy or because you're a free citizen or because the use driving licences in Egypt you feel we should also get rid of those.

Id be fully in favour of an optional Id card, as for travelling its a far handier and robust document than a passport made out of paper.
If its optional then all it is is a compact version of your passport.

If its compulsorary to own then you are going down an altogether different path and debate but I'd definitely sign up for one if it was optional.

In the Shengen area the police have the right to demand you identify yourself a the border control is decentralise to every member of the police.

So I don't know what the OP is talking about in dying tht having to carry an ID in those countries doesn't mean the police can ask to see it in a random manner means.

Secondly, why do people assume that because the data relating to your identity is stored digitally or centrally, that it is somehow infallible. Any study on large data sets shows there is an inherent error in the input, storage and retrieval of data. When added to the risk of this data being compromised it becomes a very worrying scenario.

I'd prefer to be responsible for my own data rather than a central authority thank you very much.

A big NO to compulsory ID carrying. No state is bigger than the person. The state is jut what we've put together to facilitate our lives, it's not meant to direct them.

c_man wrote: »

The right to privacy and concerns over what the government would do with all this information are childish?



So most people already carry ID... shouldn't that lessen the "need" to make the carrying of it mandatory?

Carrying ID doesn't provide the government with any new information about you, at all.

Making it mandatory and standardised makes it difficult for people to abuse and doesn't change anything for the rest of us who already carry it.

Any more stupid objections?

Nope , after living in a few countries where they were mandatory , it's actually very liberating not having to carry one at all times