Magic fingerprints
Austin Gatt announced in parliament some days ago that the European Union will fund Malta’s planned electronic identity cards, and that the new system should be in place before the next general election.
He also said that the validity of existing identity cards has been extended so that we need not have one mass renewal now and another one when the new system comes into play.
The extended validity is useless to those of us who use an identity card instead of a passport for travel, because the actual date on the card is what counts. So that means renewing it anyway. But that’s a side issue.
Minister Gatt told parliament that the new biometric cards will have high security features. The Times reported his words as “not least because they would include more information on their owners, including fingerprints. The information would be stored on a chip in the card.”
Strangely enough, there was no reaction from any member of parliament who happened to be in the house that night, still less from any member of parliament who might have read the report at a safe distance. Not even the word ‘fingerprints’ seemed to trigger any alarm bells about civil liberties, privacy issues or human rights abuses. And parliament is jam-packed with lawyers and with self-proclaimed progressives of the reincarnated liberal party.
On the internet, it was a different matter. Lots of people had, like me, logged the word ‘fingerprints’ immediately and gone on line to discuss the implications. The implications, of course, are not pretty. People cannot be fingerprinted unless they have committed a crime or there is strong evidence that they have done so. Only the fingerprints of convicted felons can be stored and then only in a secure police database and certainly not on a general public registry database, even if it is accessible only to a few civil servants.
The strict restrictions on the logging of fingerprints are there because of the vast scope for abuse when fingerprint information is available for individuals who have committed no crimes. There is obvious justification for keeping the fingerprints of criminals, but there is a strong and influential lobby of opinion against even that. Fingerprints, unlike the image of the iris – which is also unique to each person – can be used to track your presence and movements. You don’t leave your iris image behind you as you move around – but you certainly leave your fingerprints, unless you go through life wearing gloves.
If a comprehensive database of fingerprints is available for every Maltese citizen, then when fingerprints are picked up for whatever reason – at a crime scene or wherever – those with access to the fingerprint database can run the prints through and come up with an immediate match. The benefits for crime investigation are clear. The scope for abuse and for invasion of privacy is equally clear.
As the online debate got hotter, I began to wonder why Austin Gatt hadn’t issued a statement of clarification. He couldn’t possibly be working on a national archive of fingerprints contained in chips on our identity cards, I thought. After all, he’s a lawyer. He is also a rational person. He knows what kind of issues that would throw up.
I didn’t have any trouble understanding why the Labour Party didn’t kick up a fuss about it. That sort of logging of individual data and the policing of private individuals would not strike people like Anglu Farrugia as odd. Anglu Farrugia would probably think it a brilliant idea – imagine the potential for creating a fuss about the scamming of ballot sheets, the sale of voting documents and the manipulation of Labour junkies by Nationalist mercenaries with pots of gold at their disposal.
Unable to believe that we would all be forcibly fingerprinted in a couple of years’ time, without a murmur of disapproval from the Opposition, I emailed Austin Gatt’s office for clarification. Is this true? Has somebody, somewhere, taken leave of his or her senses? The clarification came back.
“The Minister did not say ID Cards would contain everyone’s fingerprints. The Minister said that an electronic identity card has the technical potential to carry various categories of information and be used for different applications. An electronic ID card could, in theory, carry biometric credentials. It can carry banking credentials to be used as an electronic wallet; it can contain health records, or it can contain keys to safely access health or similar records. “
“Any of these possible functionalities, and several others, can be built in all ID cards but they can also be excluded and enabled if the users choose to do so. But there is a difference between what an electronic card can do, and what it would be used for. No decisions have yet been taken on what applications will be used and any decisions will be taken in respect of all relevant laws.”
I have the funniest feeling that Inspector Gadget is going to be very disappointed: no fingerprinting, and one expects a giant fuss to be made by politicians of all stripes if there is any suggestion to the contrary. But then again, Inspector Gadget might be happier that way. There’s more to keep him amused with the creation of hairy stories about the purchase of voting documents for ten euros from junkies who sport T-shirts proclaiming themselves as Labour voters.
This article is published in The Malta Independent on Sunday, today.
63 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Why all this fuss and hullabaloo about identity cards? The aficionados know about its inimitability.
Would the Data Protection Act cover fingerprinting?
Now there’s an idea worth raising a glass to and toasting.
This, in the beginning please, Daphne.
On another subject, if you are reading this Sunday evening, there is opera from the Arena di Verona on RAI. I can’t help notice many empty seats. Undoubtedly the fear of rain has kept people away. Some of the audience are fanning themselves furiously because of the heat and although the performances are outstanding they don’t seem all too happy. Kenneth Zammit Tabona, Chris Gatt and others were right after all – a purpose built open air theatre in Valletta is a waste of money.
When the open air theatre at city gate is inaugurated, the very people who embarked on an infantile campaign against the project will no doubt be sitting in the front rows. Only then will they realise how short-sighted and blinkered they were in their opposition.
Bil haqq fejn waslet il-gabra ta’ Mario Philip Azzopardi ghat teatru nazzjonali?
As the saying goes, one swallow does not make a summer. In any case the climate of Verona is hardly that of a Mediterranean island is it? Just look at the list of events planned for the open-air Teatro Greco in the not so distant Taormina.
http://www.gotaormina.com/it/eventi/teatro_greco.html
Kemm kien programm sabih ! Ghogbitni hafna Carmen u tghallimt fuq Madame Butterfly .
Ah but it seems you weren’t at the Earth Garden unplugged session yesterday (Greek theatre), or you would have seen that the open-air theatre concept is something that people want – their mere presence confirms it. Open-air in winter is as good as the Manoel is in summer. So now you have a theatre for all seasons.
Nobody mentioned mosquitoes yet!
John, then don’t even go out in summer. There are sprays, and I find them particularly useful. They are suitable for all skin types and conditions, and just about every household has one already for BBQs and the like.
It would have been more intelligent had you asked about how the authorities propose to keep the place clean, and not having patrons wipe seats before sitting down.
The state should not be allowed to invade the privacy of individuals. The holding of personal biometric details is in my view a violation of a person’s dignity and freedoms.
My concern is: why is the EU funding a biometric ID card? If the card is biometric, it is going to be used for biometric purposes. I suspect that Inspector Gadget will not be that disappointed after all.
Now, do not tell me I am exaggerating, but see what happens when people become too obsessed with biometrics. It is probably a case of Biometric Gadgets:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4396831.stm
Daphne, a very ‘fuzzy’ response to your email. ‘Duh, we’re not sure what we’re gonna do’. ‘Maybe this, maybe that’. Not too encouraging.
Had you managed to cut yourself out of that box you’d have long seen this coming. As matters stand, it seems Austin has allayed your fears. Well here’s news: we have no choice over EU biometrics, and if you think fingerprinting is off the charts, good for you. But when the time comes, you can file your complaints in Brussels.
I think Britons do NOT (repeat) not have I.D. cards although they are in the E.U. – I cannot understand this obsession against the EU, when many of the EU opponents have good jobs in Brussels.
Here re some links::
Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 – http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R2252:EN:HTML
“Article 1
“1. Passports and travel documents issued by Member States shall comply with the minimum security standards set out in the Annex.
“2. Passports and travel documents shall include a storage medium which shall contain a facial image. Member States shall also include fingerprints in interoperable formats. The data shall be secured and the storage medium shall have sufficient capacity and capability to guarantee the integrity, the authenticity and the confidentiality of the data.
“3. This Regulation applies to passports and travel documents issued by Member States. It does not apply to identity cards issued by Member States to their nationals or to temporary passports and travel documents having a validity of 12 months or less.”
Note that since ID cards are potentially travel documents within the EU, this would automatically apply to ID cards.
>> 2009 amendments here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:142:0001:01:EN:HTML
Related – from the EU Commission’s site: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/fight_against_terrorism/l14154_en.htm
The Commission’s European Biometrics Forum: http://www.eubiometricsforum.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
kev, do you write out of boredom and frustration, are you an insecure loner, do you still live with mummy?
[Daphne – Kev huwa r-ragel ta’ Sharon No2EU.]
Ajma xi drama
When the time comes there will be enough public opposition from European citizens to kill any proposal that includes such plans.
Secure ID cards are going to happen, along with cameras and other active security technologies sprinkled all around us. It’s the unintended consequence of open borders and cheap travel.
These cards raise the potential of going through passport control without being checked by a human. A specialist who needs to be qualified to sift through so many passports and flag issues, but in fact they are not, unless you’re El Al. Imagine a couple of A380s landing at MIA with a couple of thousand people funneling through passport control in the summer heat when most of them came only for a short stay. Problem would be made worst with a couple of cruise liners berthing for the day. Where do you get all the passport control staff that need to be qualified enough to do their job? Mechanization makes our life better and it empowers the middle-class and the poor, as they cannot afford to pay for human service.
In the ideal scenario, a camera scans your face while you’re passing though a turnstile. In the meantime a computer reads the ID card/passport without even touching it via RFID. If your face matches that stored on the card, you go through, otherwise you’re shunted to be inspected by a human, hopefully better qualified than most border security staff.
The problem is that presently these ID cards are ‘easy’ to crack at a distance. Some researchers took their sophisticated equipment on the road and managed to lift the data stored on cards of unsuspecting passers-by without even going near them. The security has to improve. More importantly the information has to be accurate, up-to-date and impossible to spoof: the ultimate target is that nobody else can assume your identity.
On the other hand, privacy is an illusion. I cannot understand how people rile against this great technology and then go on facebook and publish all their peccadilloes and organise their personal data to be lifted by Zuckerberg, who will sell it to the highest bidder… Mobile phone operators can keep track on your movements. Cameras will sprout at every street corner in Paceville and slowly spread to the rest of the island. Learn to live with it … and love it. We can only make sure that the branches of the state are strong and accountable to the people, but there’s no stopping technology. We like the improvements in quality of life too much… we just have to adapt and create the checks and balances needed to protect every citizen’s quality of life.
There is really nothing objectionable with the fingerprint per se. It is the image of a part of the body other than the face. The fingerprint never changes, whereas the face does – so that is a plus for fingerprints on ID cards.
The problem lies with the storage of fingerprint images. That is the ethical line which should not be trespassed.
As you rightly say, the state has no reason to keep every citizen’s and every resident’s fingerprint image stored in its archives. Because that would be tantamount to an expression of suspicion on everybody as a potential criminal.
If that logic is accepted, than all safeguards contained in the constitution with regard to state powers being limited by the existence of a reasonable suspicion would vanish in thin air.
I am of the opinion that any proposal to store fingerprint images would be defeated in a human rights action, if not before the Constitutional Court in Valletta, then at the Court in Strasbourg.
“The problem lies with the storage of fingerprint images. That is the ethical line which should not be trespassed.”
In fact, there is an issue over the stored fingerprints and data of those who have been cleared of criminal charges after being taken to court. Most argue in favour of their deletion, once a suspect is cleared.
.
I agree with you about this fingerprint business, but what’s the use of not having our fingerprint information when we already have to give all our biometric information, iris and finger print, to a foreign country to obtain a travelling visa?
This was all done with the approval of our prime minister and under the supposedly watchful eyes of the opposition. Many workers clock in with their finger print. What safeguards do they have about this information?
big brother
tal-biza sew !!!
Oh dear Lino, once again you’ve been screwed! but I’m sure you’ll come up with a gadget that will anable you to extract finger prints, it’s been done before, remember?
What about situations where some people, genuinely, do not have fingerprints?
I’ve encountered one instance where this almost caused me problems: http://wp.me/ppqxP-9j
From a day to day practical point of view, can you not use the driving licence as an ID card?
In the not so distant future technology will become powerful enough to store DNA data and this will be included in the biometric profile.The data would be collected at birth and stored in a chip inplant that stays with you for life.
Big Brother is alive and well and there is very little we can do about it.
It might take a few decades but it will happen.
You bleeding heart liberals don’t know what’s good for you! Total state control should be the order of the day.
Imagine this: A super ID card complete with bank account and biometric info to be issued to all citizens. Any payments over – say – €100 are to be made by means of this card. Tax and VAT compliance shoot up to 95% levels, allowing income tax to be reduced to 20%. Social security fraud diminishes to a mere 2% of the budgeted amount. Tax is further reduced to 15%. No one bothers cheating any more. Utopia has arrived.
The only problem is that EVERYONE – me included – will instinctively hide SOME Euros from the taxman and therefore NO-ONE will accept not being allowed to cheat.
Probably the small cheats who manage to do €100 worth of off the record work in a year will be the most anti-regulation of all, allowing the big fish (many professionals and businessmen) to continue laughing all the way to the bank.
I’m aware that such massive state control will inevitably lead to abuse and corruption – it always does – but IF I could have a total and absolute guarantee that it wouldn’t I’d accept it gladly. I’ve always been in favour of a wise and benevolent dictatorship.
That’s right, Tim Ripard. And why ‘over €100’? Never give the slaves a chance: with a cashless society even a toffee’s worth is recorded. Instead of blabbering about a ‘super ID card’ why not make an effort and check what they’re up to with the RFID chip? Yes, just like they use for dogs. They also have them in nano sizes for idiots like you. Enemy of the state? Switch off his chip.
The best slaves are those who think they’re free, Sur Ripard.
Ghadkom tghixu fis-seklu l-iehor u minghalikom bravi hafna. Mur obsor ghall-poplu Malti, hej.
U tista tghidli f’liema seklu qied tghix int sur ex spettur, ma kontx daqsek bravu fil-Korp
You’re not very credible as an anti-EU liberal, Kev. Apart from the little matter of having been a Soviet-trained cop in the bad old days of KMB and the Special Mobile Unit, during the last MEP elections you canvassed for a PL candidate, a party which its leaders claim is pro-EU.
@ Antoine Vella
1. I studied auronoautics in the Soviet Union.
2. I am not a liberal but a libertarian.
3. I canvassed for the only EU-critical candidate. There aren’t any left now.
[Daphne – Well, kev, what were you planning on doing? Voting for and canvassing for somebody other than your wife? That wouldn’t have been very loyal. So it’s a good thing your political views are the same.]
To all detractors: funny how not one of you has found it appropriate to comment on the EC Regulation I linked above. Don’t blame me for calling you names. Instead we get sick comments, such as Troy’s here. What can I say? Prosit.
I think Kev is right. Either we’re free or tagged . We already have a system where you don’t get your car licence if you don’t pay your tickets, and local tribunals where you have to prove your innocence instead of someone proving your guilt.
This philosophy originates from one mind: Austin’s, and is seconded by Dr Gonzi. We already had Dr Gonzi talking excitedly about our medical records being sent to doctors on the internet without pondering about the ethical implications and how this information could be abused.
… and that should read ‘aeronautics’.
Kev, there’s no need to insult me and call me an idiot. Why don’t you tell me what ‘they’ – whoever ‘they’ are – are up to with the RFID chip.
If it’s so terrible and ‘they’ = the EU, and if you anti-EU chaps were up to your job, I’m sure I’d know by now. But you’d better get your act together and express yourselves in VERY simple terms ‘cos, boy, if I’m an idiot you should see what else there is out there.
No rational mind could blame for not respecting most of you here, Tim.
Consider this article. It starts with the EU’s funding of Malta’s biometric card system (EU funding always sounds nice, conveniently forgetting that we contribute huge millions to those same funds). Then, after some minor details, it goes into shock-horror mode over fingerprinting – which is commendable, of course, and here I stand with Daphne.
Yet she then embarks on a wild goose chase, adding a bit of salt and gadget for taste, ultimately finding solace in Austin’s bland reply.
The source of this piece of tyranny is never questioned. It is taken for granted that it’s something the Maltese parliament is concocting, while Austin plays his violin.
Yet a link to the relevant EU regulation, which is binding and which has even been published in the Official Journal, is treated as a ‘conspiracy theory’ – worse, even: it never happened!
Only the ‘Commission Decision’ concerning technical specifications is yet unpublished… and it’s not because they’re having second thoughts.
I’ll leave you all in peace. I never imagined your standards could be as low as this. You really have nothing to laugh about. Stagnati f’illuzzjoni helwa, helwa, tant li l-ebda sajjetta ma tqajjimkom.
I cannot understand why so much fuss about the ID cards.
I mean why should the Maltese ID cards be so special and sophisticated. What about ID cards in other EU countries? I can speak about Italy, the country where I live. The ID card is of an ancient system, a huge card showing some personal information. We have another card showing the so called Codice Fiscale (an important number which is used everywere, as the ID card number in Malta) and the EU Tessera Sanitaria (EU health insurance card). The whole system is ancient and stupid of an EU country.
These ID cards with finger prints, chips etc. are just a waste of money. They should add some important information on the present ones like “blood group” and other useful information in case of an emergency.
What’s the purpose of having the fingerprints stored in a data system unless you’re a criminal?
Another danger of such information is that the general public is too confident about fingerprints (and other biometric markers). Whilst every fingerprint is unique enough, computer algorithms never look for an exact match as that is impossible. They use statistical techniques to check for “closeness”. If a submitted fingerprint is close enough to the stored image, then you have a match.
Inevitably, this will lead to cases of false positives and false negatives. Unfortunately, it takes people with good intuitive knowledge of statistics to identify such situations. The actual people responsible will probably not be statisticians and be too confident in anything their computers tell them. Frame-ups, irrefutable ID theft and other nasty things will become very real.
Can you imagine what might happen if professional criminals get their hands on these scans? Can anyone imagine the dire consequences on that poor soul whose personal info has just been stolen therefore compromised and used in let’s say a scam or forgery? God help him.
What is wrong with our current ID card? Is it not good enough for Big Bro? I just hope that if these biometric cards are introduced, they would have at least a PIN number assigned to each individual, so if one ID is compromised, one can simply change the PIN number and not one’s fingers.
Can you illuminate us to what could happen?
While I agree that it is totally ridiculous that Malta has not renewed ID cards in years and we all need to use our passports to travel, I do not agree with the fingerprint issue.
Here in Italy ID card chips include fingerprint images. I had absolutely no objection to that as I do not intend to commit a crime, and if I did then well, I guess I should get caught for it.
On the other hand if one is in an accident and perhaps in a coma or suffering a loss of memory, he or she are easily and unmistakably identifiable. I don’t see what the fuss is about really.
The EU chip is quite useful as you can put in loads of data, such as blood type, next of kin, signature etc.
In this electronic and information age protection of privacy is not simple. If you just carry a mobile phone around you are totally traceable.
Allavolja it-tipjip kien ipprojbit
I wish that the new Identity card with fingerprints will also replace the voting document. This will avoid inspector gadget a lot of work to investigate all the votes in a general election.
Kev says ‘Well here’s news: we have no choice over EU biometrics’
Can you tell us what happened with the court case that Joseph Muscat presented in Court regarding the VAT paid on new vehicles?
Riya, seeing that you are well glued to the blue side of your red-blue box, let me just be kind to you and inform you that PL and PN are two sides of the same worn out coin. You might understand this better by the time you’re 90.
Does Kev support the UKIP or Lega Nord? His cynicism is indicative of isolationism and extreme right tendencies.
The potential for abuse is in everything but we should not allow this to stop us if we think something might be beneficial. From my experience, each time we were the victims of theft or other crimes the criminals could not be found because the finger prints did not match those of the people on record.
Imagine if there was a national record?
I think that if you are a law-abiding citizen you would be happy to know that a criminal could be found easily and i’m sure it would act as a deterrent. Obviously like anything else one could abuse of this information and this means that it really needs to be watertight.
Watertight you said? Here in Malta? Come on. Another ‘gadget’ shall soon be introduced in M.I.A. Yeah that ‘see through scanner’. Mur ara kemm se jitnejku bin nies, in-nies ta’ dwana, meta juzaw dan l-apparat fuq xi tfajla/mara etc li jafu, tghid il-membri tal parlament u l-kleru jkollhom jghaddu min din is- sigurta eletronika?!…….
Topsy-turvy. Inspector Gadget would be happy about State archives full of our fingerprints – a strange rehash of Stasi DDR.
This upside-down thinking is characteristic of the Inspector’s followers.
This is from mltetaerst (http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=9651):
“Republican candidate Nikki Haley, renowned for her family values rhetoric, is leading by 20 per cent points in the race to become the first woman governor of South Carolina.
Her campaign has been marred with extra-marital affair with Larry Marchant, a lobbyist and Will Folks, spokesperson for the former governor.
Ms Haley, married with two children, is known for her conservative views: family-values, anti-abortion and pro-gun rhetoric. She has been endorsed by former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin.
However, her extra-marital affair did not derail her campaign. If anything it had the opposite effect. According to polls she managed to garner well over 20 per cent points in just two week to a total of 43% support.
It seems that Ms Haley is finding support from liberal and feminists groups. “Yes, I’m on her side. I hope she survives the scandal and wins,” Dana Goldstein, liberal feminist blogger, said.”
The below-national-average-IQ “journalists” did not tell us WHY her support increased!
It increased because people did not believe the gossip! http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/06/07/nikki_haley_south_carolina_primary
So I cannot understand the logic behind this article. Is it to attack the pro-family values, anti-abortion stance taken by Haley? Is it because Palin backs her?
And then, why don’t they tell us that Haley’s support base has increased because people don’t believe gossip?
Maybe I know why. Inspector Gadget and his elves dish out gossip, all the time, don’t they?
From what I know of fingerprint (recognition) systems, the fingerprint is not actually stored. Only a few reference points are stored to the extent that they can only be matched one way. i.e. from the data on the chip you cannot identify the person, but from the person’s fingerprint you can tell if the data on the chip is his/hers. No privacy issue there!
Honest citizens should never be afraid of improvements in the identification process –
A few classic “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about” arguments here. I have seen this often tackled in IT blogs and an analysis always shows you have a lot to worry about. A few cases of abuse of laws tackling terrorism occurred both in the UK and US. I remember one in the UK where a local council used laws to spy on citizens to see who took out the rubbish on the wrong day.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082225/March-dustbin-Stasi-Half-councils-use-anti-terror-laws-watch-people-putting-rubbish-wrong-day.html
Also an IT perspective of the issue.
http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/the-data-trust-blog/2009/02/debunking-a-myth-if-you-have-n.html
….and how about when one is in the wrong place and at the wrong time… It happened…. to me, and it’s no joke I tell you.
The way I know it, unless we are going to invent a new way of doing things in Malta, is that the biometric document, normally does indeed store a copy of the fingerprint, ON THE CARD ITSELF and NOT in a centralised database.
The reason for this is to help prevent forgery, i.e. if police, border control etc. have reason to believe that the ID card you are carrying is not yours, then they have a surer (though not foolproof) way of checking it, by comparing your fingerprint to the one stored ON THE DOCUMENT. The document itself is also practically impossible to forge, or rather, very difficult.
That’s the way it is normally done, but of course we don’t know how it will be done when it’s ‘made in Malta’
I sincerely believe this is all a storm in a teacup.
As far as I know, there were always those who agreed to/opposed any form of security, some for the simple reason of making an issue out of it, such as political gain
Any security system, no matter how watertight, has been proved to be useless, if misappropriated.
In the case of fingerprints, this will, certainly help in the war against crime.
My father, who was reknowned for his expertise in fingerprints, used to spend hours working on fingerprint veracity when involved in investigations. This when it was no simple task and no computers were available for accuracy or comparisons.
min ghandhu subejgh dritt m’ghandhux minn xiex jibza mill-ID cards sa ma f’malta ma jkollniex korp tal-pulizija kif kellna fi zmien il-lejber, korp korrott minn fuq s-isfel, Barra minhekk, l-Inglizi ddecidew li jnehhu l-idea tal-ID cards u mbaghad meta jsehh xi terrorist attack, arahom iwerzqu qishom ta’ wara l-muntanji ghax il-pulizija ma taqbadx lill-kriminali. Daz-zgur jekk hadd m’ghandhu ID Card kif tridha l-pulizija tahdem biex tipprotegi lic-cittadin. Imbaghad arahom lill-istess stupidi nglizi jitolbu ghar-rizenji tal-PM, tal-Ministru tal-Intern, tal-Kummissarju tal-Pulizija….. taghhom biss ma jitolbux ir-rizenja. Ridikoli.
@ Kev Says:
‘Riya, seeing that you are well glued to the blue side of your red-blue box,let me just be kind to you and inform you that PL and PN are two sides of the same worn out coin.’
My friend, I am not Labour, nor I am glued to the blue side of the red-blue box. I am anti-Labour.
Between 1971 and 1987, the vandicative actions against my family and other people who were known to be Nationalist were the order of the day. Also because of the atrocities carried out by high officials of police even on old people, as I am sure you very well know.
This brought us into a situation whereby if you are Nationalist one day or another your turn will come. I also remind you of the highly organised corruption by ministers of that time. You were not eligible for a public sector job if you were Nationalist and some of us not even to a telephone.
Labour never did any projects in Malta. You might mention Air Malta. But that was again Air Labour like some if the contributors here rightly call it. This was another dockyard and serious Dockyard employees themselves state that the GWU destroyed the dockyard, like they destroyed Air Malta.
Why were Nationalist Party clubs destroyed? Why did the police arrest PN activists and beat doctors, students and housewives? Why did the Labour government retaliate against those who refused to work or do business on Mnarja? Konna qisna l-Iraq, Kevin. Nies jaraw karrozza tal-pulizija u jibzghu.
The mentality of many Labour supporters is still the same. When you try to discuss issues with them they end up threatening you ‘u npattuwielkom’.
I hope I will reach the age of 90 and somehow get to see a decent Labour Party, without a leader like Joseph Muscat, and representatives like Tony Abela, Anglu Farrugia, and the rest. This is very unlikely.
Riya – kolla tal-mastrudaxxa would be easier to detach, but you’re covered in Araldite. I can’t help you with your problem, I’m afraid. Try painting your box pink.
I suppose the best way to avoid forgery would be to have the holder’s DNA profile embedded in the card. That should set Kev hopping.
That is actually done in several places.
Antoine, u jekk ikollok “xi haga hazina fid-DNA”?
It is quite possible that the suspicion by which this proposal is being held by many people is an undeclared fear that some future corrupt government (and we all know that we had this for a number of decades) could use such information illegally by planting someone’s fingerprint to frame some innocent guy. What safeguards against this will be in place?
The Brits are going to dump ID cards in the name of privacy and freedom but they seem to have forgotten the huge number of CCTV cameras all over the place where one’s movements can be traced.
Instead of fingerprints, retina scans can be used. They are already used in certain biometric passports and cannot be used to frame someone like used to happen in the jolly good old days.
The UK might not have ID cards but the “police enforcement” cameras all over the country read your car’s registration number and effectively shadow your every movement.
Moreover, at points of entry, vehicles and people are unknowingly scanned. I can confirm this because I have just experienced it.
I was stopped as I was about to board a ferry in my car. After the usual questions, “Did you pack everything yourself? bla bla bla”, I was asked to open the boot.
When the customs/immigration/security whatever personnel saw what I had, they said “Ahh that’s what it was.” Four shockabsorbers with coil springs which must have looked much like a weapon of mass destruction on an X-ray image. Talk about paranoid. They have earned it though and can now boast of a healthy, home-grown terrorist network.