National ID cards divide the security industry as much as any other sector of the community.
But despite our support for improved national security being an absolute given, we as individuals may not support the ID proposals.
We may feel them to be unnecessary or even more likely to increase the security threat or possibility of identity fraud.
A poll carried out ahead of IFSEC showed the industry was broadly in favour of ID cards. But I bet there are many, like myself, who have wavered on this issue – from initially strong support to increasing doubt.
In my view, repeated data losses by the authorities (too many to link to) and ever more sophisticated data cloning map out a future where the very existence of vast centralised databases promises more potential dangers than they were designed to prevent.
But no matter what you think personally, I can’t believe even pro-ID card supporters would feel totally easy about a web site that has just been set up by the Home Office but received very little publicity via the government spin machine.
This website that goes under the name of My life my ID is specifically aimed at 16-25 year olds, although a brief view will leave you in no doubt it’s the younger end of this age range that is the real target.
Desperate measure
Under the guise of a discussion forum on “identity theft”, the site comes across as a desperate and thinly-veiled attempt to get them when they’re young. Orwellian or what?
Although not dwelled on, the impression you come away with is that the ID card will prove your age, ie you won’t be doubted when you want to buy alcohol or get into a pub or club.
This may be a very small part of an ID card’s function but it hits the spot for this age group.
Ironically, after you get past the soft sell videos on the home page, the site seems to shoot itself in the foot. There’s far more coherent argument against ID cards in the response forums than for them.
The government argues “identity fraud” is costing the country GB pound 1.7 billion a year but the whole thrust of this website is around “identity theft”. This seems to me to be a deliberate muddying of the waters resulting in confusion.
The taking over of someone’s identity and their accounts is a nightmare scenario and shouldn’t be lumped in with things like benefit fraud which is, in most cases, a misrepresentation of circumstances, not identity.
But putting the pro or anti-card arguments aside, I can’t be alone in thinking that there is something inherently wrong in this type of barely-disguised manipulation of young people by playing on their fears.
Visit the site – after all, you’re paying for it – and let me know if it leaves a nasty taste in your mouth as well – or if I’m being unfair?
What about the victims?
In my last newsletter I wrote “how thin and reedy those ministerial/police responses are beginning to sound in the wake of this unprecedented spate of knife crimes” – while at the same time we’re told that crime is “falling”.
Now my colleague, the venerable (his preferred prefix) Brian Sims, editor of SMT has taken up this subject in greater depth and his heartfelt comment has struck a chord with the security industry.
Equally heartfelt is the response from Steve Collins who makes the point that while everyone’s talking about educating the offender away from crime, few are thinking about educating the potential victims away from victim-hood. Steve’s highly informative article on the ‘non-metallic’ threat is also worth a read in these knife-ravaged times.
I also thought the comment from Jon Elliot made a lot of sense despite its simplicity: for everyday purposes why does a knife have to be sharply pointed, resulting in easy stabbing and deep internal injuries rather than potentially less severe slash or cut wounding?
Stressed out?
In tough times when just keeping yourself in business will be a major challenge for some installation proprietors, the niceties of management may have to take a back seat.
You may feel management consultants should be indulged in only in times of plenty. The last thing you need in an economic slump is for someone to tell you to slow down.
As the old saying goes “When the wolf’s at the door, management consultants should become their lunch” (To be honest, I just made that up but you know what I mean.)
However, it’s holiday time and, in bucket and spade mood, consultants The McLane Group “specialising in people, transformation and breakthrough performance” have issued “Top tips for stressed out executives this summer”.
So if you’re the type that goes on holiday with your PDA (rather than your PA, which sounds much more interesting) why not take their pre-holiday advice? My own ‘management reality assessment’ is in brackets.
Be a completist
* “Before you leave work, look at your workspace and say to yourself ‘you are complete’…then leave”
(Not “Oh s***, ten o’clock and it’s still in a mess. I’d better come in tomorrow morning before we get the plane”.)
* “Spend 30 minutes on your own at work at the end of the final day in reflection mode in order to ‘complete’ that session of work and get into holiday mode before you arrive home.”
(Not “Oh s***, I’ve missed the last train”)
* “Create a ‘Whilst I am away list’ and arrange to do a suitable handover to a colleague the day before you leave”
(Not “I’ll ring Fred at the pub. Oh s***, I haven’t got his mobile number”)
In other words, we know consultants are right, but do they really live in this world?
Sometimes delegates on consultant’s courses do bring a reality check. I was once on a time management course where a manager said she had no trouble with managing emails, a big problem for most of us. She said she deleted all emails without reading them. If it was important, they’d call her.
An interesting approach that somehow made our trainer’s Timeframe Opportunity Matrix (or some such thing) seem over complicated.
If you need any more of McLane’s pre-holiday advice, just click here.
Holiday blues and greens
Having to work long, extra hours before and after your holiday to make up for the time lost, you may think it’s not worth the effort, particularly if you’re looking at your Blackberry every five minutes.
According to the Chartered Management Institute, one in three managers will not take a summer break this year due to a fear of redundancy and work pressures. So if you’re one of those hard pressed security proprietors who can’t take a holiday, how about bringing the holiday mood to the workplace? Just slip on these comfy living grass flip flops and have your own “mini park to walk around in”.
Hardly a park though – I can’t see any mini vandalised swings, uncontrollable dogs or memorial benches covered in graffiti.
So what next? No doubt we’ll soon get a “mini private beach” version – shoes full of sand.
Happy holidays.