Posted on 04/24/2004 6:01:04 PM PDT by aculeus
Thousands of Muslim women will be exempted from having to show their faces on identity cards as the Government moves to allay fears among British Muslims that the new cards will be used to target them in the 'war on terror'.
As David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, faced attack for not allowing enough debate over the introduction of the first ID cards in Britain since the Second World War, officials made it clear that if Muslim women do not want to reveal their faces in public, that would be respected.
Instead of a photograph, there would be an exemption for certain people, who would only have to give fingerprint and iris-recognition data.
Although the exact type of information held on the card has still to be finalised in negotiation with other industrialised nations, Home Office sources made it clear that they backed the idea.
'We have had constructive discussions with the Muslim community and want to assure them we are sensitive to their points of view,' said a source close to Blunkett.
The Home Secretary moved after representations from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). Officials on the council told The Observer that although they support the idea of identity cards they are concerned that they could be used to persecute ethnic minorities.
'As we have seen with the anti-terror laws and with stop and search, if powers are used in the wrong way they can have the effect of singling out a community for no good reason,' said a legal advisor to the MCB.
'We are not against ID cards as such, but we want to ensure that they are used properly.'
Blunkett will announce tomorrow a £3 billion scheme to introduce identity cards to Britain. Although at first the scheme will be voluntary, the Home Office will argue that the country should move to a compulsory scheme by 2012.
By then the public would not be forced to carry them but would have to produce a card within a limited period if asked by the police.
Blunkett has said privately that he wants people to carry them at all times.
The cards will cost £35 or between £70 and £80 for one combined with a driving licence or passport. They will contain name, age and date and will be linked to a national database which will contain information on criminal records, health details and social security information.
Civil liberties groups are set to condemn the proposals, which they say will put more power in the hands of the state and are likely to be technically unworkable.
'The public have serious and understandable concerns that the Government will simply not be able to handle the data they will be attempting to collect,' said Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty.
The Earl of Selborne, chairman of the Royal Society's influential science in society committee, said that the public should be aware of the dangers of ID cards.
'There has been a lack of public debate and there is a very real danger that we are sleepwalking into our technological future,' he said.
'The public suggested that they should hold information that might be useful in a medical emergency such as blood group or allergies.
'But what if the cards also held data about our genetic disposition to specific diseases, or revealed information about our lifestyles that affect health, such as how much we are overweight or how much alcohol we are drinking, updated daily.
'These are technically possible in the future, so we should be discussing whether they are desirable.'
Blunkett will argue that ID cards will help fight against organised crime, illegal immigration, terrorism, identity fraud and 'health tourism'.
BINGO! I live in liberal land just outside of the beltway and this is EXACLY how these people think. Their attitude is me first, screw the rest.
I went out to lunch with some liberals a few years ago. I noticed at the table we were waiting for, the family who had left had left their umbrella behind. I picked it up and ran after the family. When I got back the libs started to rib me. "Doesn't loser weepers, finders keepers apply to conservatives?" They thought my actions were hilarious. I said "No, do unto others is my choice".
That shut them up, and I never spent time with those people again. I don't want my kids around them and I don't want to be around them
Yes, my religion warned against being made to carry the mark of the beast in my hand or on my head. No ID card for me. I am not a number, I am a free man.
Watch "Lawrence of Arabia". The Brits have an obsessive love of Arab culture (perhaps because British men are mostly fags at heart and dream of being whisked away and deflowered by Omar Sherif). The film makes me sick because ever since the Turks no longer run things in the Mideast and the Saudis and Arabs do, the that area became the choatic hell-hole it remains today. The worst decision the Allies ever made was putting the Ibn Saud clan in charge over there.
Are you assuming that would exclude some Iraqi women? I beg to differ.
Fit in or go the f+@k home.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.