The ID Card Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons, with the government's majority slashed to 25 in October, and is now progressing through the House of Lords, where the second reading debate was stormy.

The feasibility of the scheme has been further undermined by recent comments from IT companies, including Microsoft's Jerry Fishenden who warned that the scheme could lead to identity theft on a massive scale, and a warning from Robert Tavano of Unisys that the scheme is "overly ambitious, extremely expensive and will not be a panacea against terrorism or fraud,". Tavano went on to note that adopting the scheme would lmake his company very happy.

Whilst the government has gone out of its way to reassure us that the cards cost to the individual will be £30, that they won't be compulsory, that the information stored on them will be limited etc etc etc, the abuse of Anti-social behaviour laws in recent weeks shows government assurances for what they are.

Anti-social behaviour laws have increasingly been used against protestors and last week a Bristol judge told anti -Sainsburies protestors that he had considered issuing ASBOs against them before sentencing them to community service,. In the High Court, judges ruled that the police were justified in using anti-social behaviour legislation to disperse a Sikh protest against the contoversial play Behzti in Birmingham last December. Parliament was assured that the legislation would not be used to stifle political protest.

Identity cards pose an enormous threat to civil liberties which are already under extensive attack by the Blairites, and it seems vital that we start building a widespread camapign against them.

For further information on resisting the cards, see the No2id website, and consider joining the 11726 people who have pledged to refuse to register for an ID card and to donate £10 to a legal defence fund, or the 726 people who have pledged to actively support those people who refuse to register for an ID card, and to pay at least £20 into a fighting fund for them.