I think I've mentioned before that I take part in YouGov surveys (sign up here). Well I've just participated in a survey clearly designed by some government department on whether we, the British people, want identity cards or not.
The emphasis is very interesting and, I think, weighted towards getting the answer the government require - i.e. that we want the blooming things. First of all we have a round of questions on how inconvenient all our others cards are.
What is the most difficult aspect of having lots of different cards? What don't you like about your credit card? Isn't it a pain when you move and have to change eight different cards?
Then we're asked about whether it would be nice if you could go to one place to change them all automatically, perhaps on line. Sheer bliss, no?
Then, coming into ID card territory (although it's called an identification document for purposes of this survey - perhaps *ID cards* might have a negative connotation where identification documents are a whole new barrel of apples) we're asked whether we think it would be convenient for the government to a) know your name b) where you live... and what if the government could prevent ID fraud (which the survey tells us is a massive problem) would you mind if they shared your data between different departments, like the police.
To catch these damn thieves I suppose.
And, more than five minutes into the survey, we're asked whether we'd support the government introducing something that would prevent identity fraud and allow you to hold all your information in one place. I bet loads of people were like me and said they trusted the government not one jot - because they are incompetent and dishonest.
We shall see, but just bear this post in mind in a few days time when you see headlines about how many of the British public would support ID cards, because what you wont see is all the questions that led up to the killer and which will undoubtedly skew the result in the government's favour.
Oh, and happy birthday Reuben.
Link: No2ID
The emphasis is very interesting and, I think, weighted towards getting the answer the government require - i.e. that we want the blooming things. First of all we have a round of questions on how inconvenient all our others cards are.What is the most difficult aspect of having lots of different cards? What don't you like about your credit card? Isn't it a pain when you move and have to change eight different cards?
Then we're asked about whether it would be nice if you could go to one place to change them all automatically, perhaps on line. Sheer bliss, no?
Then, coming into ID card territory (although it's called an identification document for purposes of this survey - perhaps *ID cards* might have a negative connotation where identification documents are a whole new barrel of apples) we're asked whether we think it would be convenient for the government to a) know your name b) where you live... and what if the government could prevent ID fraud (which the survey tells us is a massive problem) would you mind if they shared your data between different departments, like the police.
To catch these damn thieves I suppose.
And, more than five minutes into the survey, we're asked whether we'd support the government introducing something that would prevent identity fraud and allow you to hold all your information in one place. I bet loads of people were like me and said they trusted the government not one jot - because they are incompetent and dishonest.
We shall see, but just bear this post in mind in a few days time when you see headlines about how many of the British public would support ID cards, because what you wont see is all the questions that led up to the killer and which will undoubtedly skew the result in the government's favour.
Oh, and happy birthday Reuben.
Link: No2ID
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