ID card surveillance warning by local MP

6.00.00pm GMT Thu 2nd Nov 2006

Local politicians and security experts have warned of a "Surveillance Society" if the government's proposed Identity Cards scheme becomes a reality. They say that sensitive personal information stored in the huge database at the centre of the scheme would inevitably be abused.

David Howarth, MP for Cambridge, said:

David Howarth MP

"The Home Office plan to coordinate all government-held information about each of us via a 'National Identity Register' is an unprecedented threat to personal privacy. State surveillance on this scale is the hallmark of totalitarian regimes".

Andrew Watson, spokesman for Cambridge NO2ID, said:

"Surveillance isn't just about CCTV cameras. The broad range of personal information linked through the proposed ID Cards database would form a detailed picture of your life - where you live, who you work for, what you earn, what you drive and where you go. If it becomes this easy to find out all about you, crooks and identity fraudsters will have a field day".