First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me. Pastor Martin Niemöller There is talk in my country about installing a national security card system, all for the protection of the Kingdom, of course. The cards would no doubt be small (credit card sized) cards containing a person's name, date of birth, a photograph and some electical gubbinz which would allow local authority abusers (the police) to find out any information on said person they so desired. If I was completely paranoid, I may well suggest that these cards could contain some sort of remote tracking device designed to keep tabs on any person the government decided might be a threat (the obvious choice is GPS, but there could be more sinister usage -- if you need to use your card to activate your computer, it would transmit all the activities carried out on said machine). But I don't think I'm that paranoid. Not yet, anyway. On the surface, to some people, it may seem a great idea. "Keep them immigrant bastards at home where they belong!" would be the cry from readers of The Daily Mail newspaper. "It's merely so ther government can keep a record of the populace for easy reference," might come the cry from readers of The Times. However, this second explanation is the most chilling. Because that has been done before. It has been done before as an aid to genocide. In the second quarter of the twentieth century, IBM (the same IBM which is with us today) manufactured punch-card processing machines. They had a global monopoly on the things, and supplied them to various governments across the world (on a lease contract, mind you, so IBM continued to own all the machines). One of these governments was that of Germany. The German leader at the time Saw the punch card machines as a fantastic convenience when it came to cataloguing [CHAD- IF YOUR SPELLCHECKER CORRECTS THE WORD PRIOR TO THIS ASIDE, IT IS WRONG. AND OBVIOUSLY DON'T PUT THIS IN THE PUBLISHED COLUMN, CHEERS] the various details of the population. This leader (who I'm sure needs no introduction from me) then used the newly assembled information to start separating people from the general populace, restricting civil liberties of those groups whom he deemed less than acceptable. Then the concentration camps came, and the killing, and the war, and you know the rest. But it started with a national information system. A system not too dissimilar to the one proposed for this country. Many of you may say I'm overreacting, but to them I say take a look at all the destruction of civil liberties that have occurred in the name of "The protection of the populace" since September 11th, 2001. The media has terrified the masses more than the terrorists ever did, almost to the point where they are willing to accept any hideous schemes that the government suggests to make them "safer". This technique is not a new one. The governments of many countries execute terrorist strategies, or employ terrorist organisations to execute said strategies, which are then over-reported by the mass media (also in the government's employ) in order to instill such a sense of fear in the population that they will blindly support a war, or accept the removal of their civil liberties. All this serves to accomplish is to keep the powerful in power, and to remove any hope of the underdogs rising against them. And at the moment it seems to be working because the people who can see through the facade are so few in number, or so apathetic that they remain utterly powerless to do anything about it. So maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe the national security card system is not as dark as I have made out. Decide for yourselves, but remember that history repeats itself so often we would do well to learn as much as possible from it, if only to prepare ourselves for what is to come.