The UK’s fancy new “gaijin cards”
The UK will be issuing biometric ID cards to foreign residents. Much like Japan’s fingerprinting system, it is aimed at catching illegal immigrants and potential terrorists. Some politicians have questioned the value of such a system:
“The government is using vulnerable members of our society, like foreign nationals who do not have the vote, as guinea pigs for a deeply unpopular and unworkable policy,” he said.
SNP Home Affairs spokesman Pete Wishart MP said his party had opposed ID cards from the outset but the government’s “abysmal record on data protection” was reason enough to cancel them.
He said the government looked “absurd” for pushing ahead with such a costly project.
“These cards will not make our communities more secure, they will not reduce the terrorist threat and they will not make public services more efficient,” said Mr Wishart.
Phil Booth, head of the national No2ID campaign group, attacked the roll-out of the cards as a “softening-up exercise”.
“The Home Office is trying to salami slice the population to get this scheme going in any way they can,” Mr Booth told the BBC.
As noted by Alex, the spreading of such systems around the world will make it difficult for those fighting Japan’s fingerprinting system.
