On the carrying of papers

[spudtater]

Prominent science fiction author and blogger Cory Doctorow is considering leaving the U.K. Why? Because it's becoming uncomfortably like the old Soviet Union:

I asked her why she didn't stay, and she shook her head like I'd asked the stupidest possible question. "It was the Soviet Union", she said. She waved her hand, groped for the answer. "Papers," she said, finally. "We had to carry papers. The police could stop you at any time and make you turn over your papers." The floodgates opened. They spied on you. They made you spy on each other.

[...]

The identity card I'm to be issued when I renew my visa is intended to be linked to all my daily activities: my medical care, my use of transit, my banking and finance, my tax – a single identifier that will track me through time and space, forever. [...] We are encouraged to spy on our neighbours and report their suspicious activity. We can be stopped and searched with no particularised suspicion, and during these searches, police officers can and do examine such things as the books we're reading and the personal notes we've made. [...] If the government of the day when I renew my visa in 2010 requires that I carry these papers as a condition of residence, the Doctorows will again leave their country and find a freer one. My wife – born here, raised here, with family here – is with me. We won't raise our British daughter in the database nation. It's not safe.

— Database nation, Cory Doctorow, The Guardian, 07 Oct 2008

Very scary stuff... I can't put it any better myself. Also see Charlie Stross's post on this subject, for more links and context.

Comments

[gominokouhai]

When Cory posted to BoingBoing a few weeks ago, I thought: hahah! who's the one person in the country that the Government don't want to piss off about this?

It seems we might be too late.

[brucec.livejournal.com]

And I thought the Americans were strict in requiring everyone to go for an interview in order to get a visa. It's almost like there's some sort of ID race going on between the two countries.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

"We cannot have a fascism gap!"

[calcinations.livejournal.com]

Who did you mean the gvt don't want to piss off about this? Doctorow?

Anyway, whos up for some peaceful law abiding resistance to the nascent police state/ waste of money.
Theres already some suggestions on the Stross thread.

[gominokouhai]

Yes, Doctorow.

In my experience peaceful, law-abiding resistance turns rapidly into having one's head turned into a Muppaphone by an overzealous police officer. Any suggestions that include the avoidance of escalation gratefully received.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I've seen one suggestion of putting the card in the microwave briefly to fry the chip, thus forcing officers to take information manually, slowing the entire system down. If enough people do it, the whole chip idea might be discarded.

My biggest problem with this is: could they then force you to buy a new one? At ~£300 a pop, that's going to be painful.

Another problem is that, AIUI, there is an optical backup system. (Barcode or whatever). It's harder to see how this system could be disabled, without making the card look obviously tampered-with.

[gominokouhai]

It'll be too late by then. You can't resist cards once they've been brought in. By that time, the Government have sunk £500bn into the development of a water-powered pogo stick, and if they stop now it'll have all been wasted.

You need to stop them bringing cards in before they waste enough money on it to decide that they can't stop, liberties issues aside.

In the meantime, time to invest in a Faraday-cage wallet. Or, preferably, in a company selling Faraday-cage wallets.

[calcinations.livejournal.com]

The internet is not the place to discuss this sort of thing...