2. FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE

With ID cards still high on the political agenda, the Eye highlighted the merger of The General Register Office (births, marriages and deaths). and the Identity and Passport Service (just passports at the moment). The new set up will soon begin developing the ID card system with a data base that can not only list individuals but can round them up electronically through family relationships right down to what your parents died of!

The civil liberty implications of this merger are obvious, but so are the security implications. A new soft ware system for the births, deaths and marriages data collapsed soon after its commission, despite costing the tax payer £6 million. The new ID system will be bigger and more expensive; hence the sound of the crash will probably break the sound barrier.

Ask any computer expert and he will tell you – the easiest system to hack into is one which has crashed!