The United Kingdom is being roiled by a debate about the possible introduction of a government-issued ID. Writing in Compact, Peter Hitchens fumes:
The British government has so completely lost control of the national frontiers — an amazing achievement given that they consist of many miles of deep salt water — that it plans to issue breathing licences to everyone living here, as a substitute for secure borders. The unstated argument is that, as we can no longer decide who is allowed to live here, we can at least find out who our inhabitants are and monitor what they do.
I find this bracing stuff. I can see the steps we are taking, one by one, toward the social credit system. To the barricades.
But I’m also chastened. My phone and all the various digital apps I use are leaking data everywhere I go. If I’ve allowed Dunkin’ Donuts to know my location, how hard can it be for the feds to figure it out?
That is, what danger does the government ID add to what we’ve already done to ourselves? I fear that for convenience and trivial curiosity, we have half-built the very thing that will be turned into our digital minder.