Dusgusting Propaganda: Glastonbury Blazing the ID card trail

MSN News
Feb. 05, 2007

IL COMMENT: Don't worry Tom, the government has you to do it for them!In an effort to tackle the ticket touts, the Glastonbury Festival has introduced a registration process that involves photographic identification. More than 100,000 people signed up on the first day of the festival's registration system. With numbers like that, it is clear that festival goers don’t have an issue with big brother type regulation as long as it is for the greater good. If such a free-spirited, free-living demographic is willing to embrace such a system, is it only a matter of time before society as a whole will come round to the idea of national identity cards?

Clear and present danger

Given what we’ve witnessed in the last week, with the arrests of nine men allegedly involved in a gruesome plot to kidnap, torture and ultimately behead a British Muslim soldier, the question of whether identity cards should be introduced to enhance security is bound to be raised once again. The current climate of British society is such that, for the first time, identity cards do appear to be a necessary evil. There will always be those who scream and shout about ID cards infringing on personal liberties, but with the clear and present danger the terror threat poses, it might just be time for them to stand back and take a look at the bigger picture. You just have to think back to the bombings and attempted bombings in London in July 2005 to see why.

The Glastonbury Festival epitomises liberalism. People go there and exist for the festival’s duration with a freedom that knows almost no limits. So the fact that thousands of them are willing to comply with a photo ID scheme which goes against what the festival stands for, suggests that the tide is turning – perhaps people are coming round to the idea that sacrificing some liberties to solve greater problems isn’t so bad after all. While the Glastonbury photographic registration system is designed to beat touts rather than terrorists, the concept is the same. Touts could be said to be the terrorists of the ticketing world and making them redundant is the motivation behind the new system.

Michael Eavis, the festival organiser, believes that the best way to ensure that the person who buys a ticket is the same person who actually goes to the festival is to have his or her photograph on the ticket. A slight problem that the festival might face is one that Jack Straw knows all about. On the Glastonbury website the instructions for submitting instructions state: “Please do not wear hats or anything that covers your face and be free of glare from glasses.” This could well spark controversy if anyone picks up on the fact that Muslims wanting to go to Glastonbury would be forced to remove their veils for both the photo and presumably when they arrive. It is one oversight in an otherwise well thought out plan. It is a simple idea and will probably be quite effective in combating touts. Nobody is up in arms about it – it might be a bit of a hassle, but it is worth it if it will stamp out the tout menace. So why can’t the same philosophy be applied to national ID cards and terrorism?

Transparency is key

The reason is trust, or a lack of trust, in this case. The Glastonbury situation shows that people don’t mind handing over information and photographs if they know the reason for it and they know what that information is going to be used for. Where the Government and national ID cards are concerned, people are worried what information will be held and how such information might be used. There is an element of doubt over the motives for ID cards and people think there may be a hidden agenda behind the seemingly innocent idea of introducing ID cards to combat terrorism. Transparency is key. Glastonbury’s organisers have been completely transparent about why they need people to register photographs and people have responded to that open approach. The Government is a different matter. The cash-for-honours probe isn’t doing it any favours and politicians in general have never filled people full of confidence on the trust front.
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If the Government really believes ID cards could help in the fight against terrorism, then it needs to convince the public of that. It must explain how cards would help and it must allay people’s fears that information gained would be used to snoop or pry into their personal affairs when it is not warranted. Everyone wants to do their bit to ensure we live in a safe environment and information is a key weapon for the police and security services. We just need to know for certain that it wouldn’t be abused.

An opinion piece by Tom Reed - MSN News Editor