Dear Sir/Madam,

The way to take the controversy out of ID cards is to make them voluntary. That doesn't mean to say that we cannot have compulsory ID cards as well, but in order to pass the necessary legislation through Parliament they will have to contain just a minimum of information; too little, I suspect, to make them really useful.

I'd like to see ID cards, or rather, ID files that contain as much information as an individual is prepared to disclose. There is no need for cards at all, since all that is required is an identity number that correlates with a persons biometrics and their files in a central databank. 

It should be up to the individual not just to provide the information, but also to have responsibility for managing it in the central databank, thus avoiding the danger of false or contested information. All that the authorities have to do is verify each piece of information provided - or not. It will be up to each individual to decide what information they wish to divulge, to give permission for its verification and to specify to whom (or to what bodies) it should be accessible.

I've already produced a draft "Personal Data File" of my own, which will give you an idea of what I have in mind: Draft Voluntary ID File.

Those of us who want to create an alternative socio-economic order based on our more enlightened, human nature, which is clearly distinguishable from the present non-sustainable order rooted in our "more animal than human " nature, are going to have to be pretty honest and open about who we are and what we do (particularly in respect to how we earn, spend and invest our money), so that others can readily see for themselves the extent to which we are pulling our weight, and the size of our ecological footprint. 

"Lords could sink ID bill, admits Clarke"

Roger Hicks

www.spaceship-earth.org