...Control...

Always amazes me how British people are so critical about i.d. cards and European Community,
"fearing" to loose their freedom and identity... When I think about these issues always comes to my mind the prophetic masterpiece (in my point of view) from Aldous Huxley, the "Brave New World". How so much right he was,and how he could preview/see ahead of his time. In fact people (us) never been so much controlled and scanned in their moves as in the present times. Every communication that we do trough mobile phone, internet is screened and tracked. We live in the illusion that we are free... banks and credit cards companies got more information about ourselves than we can even remember. Shops and services in most of the cases always ask (demand) contact numbers,address - post code etc. Governments and other institutions got  easy access to our moves...we can even be tracked by satellite!... even if "this people " is always saying: " Oh no...never we will never do that..that is not legal..." just someone very naif would believe that.
Is enough just to remember the recent cases and polemic with the U.S.A. (and U.K.)spy services,to have a little hint till where our freedom and privacy of the common citizen is respected!..  :-)
I will advise strongly as a kind o "reflection" a read or re-read of the Brave New World from Aldous Huxley.
We are tracked permanently by any kind of organization (commercial/public/governmental etc).
Because of that i.d.cards are just a little issue,if we think well..."they" got much more information than that about our lives. We live in the illusion that our privacy has been respected...or even that we live in a true free democratic society...
At almost every second we are trading information about our moves and habits. Sometimes is hard to find a balance between technology,information and privacy.

A great experience that I like to do every once in a while is to have a day without mobile phone or  a similar "gadget"... If you are a big fan or addicted to your mobile phone,who will see how much peace and tranquility will bring to your life... even if at the first you find yourself a bit unsettled.