3 ms·

The UK doesn't have a national identity database.

kpil 9y ago
Is that for any particular reason? There has been a national identity register here since 400 years, so I might be a bit biased, but I never really saw a problem in everyone knowing where other people live. The most common problem is you have an abusive ex-husband, and some similar things like that, but then the national identity database is just a very minor side-problem compared to the actual problems...
- Symbiote 9y ago
  A feeling that other European countries with such a system abused them during WW2 etc, or an appeal to tradition and a feeling that British people should be free from such systems and not reduced to mere numbers.
  - kpil 9y ago
    It still says "subject" in your passport, regardless of if you have a number or not ;-) But yeah, I get parts of it. I remember that my granddad was always a bit miffed over the identity number he got, since he lived half his life without it. Before that the name and address was considered unique enough. But it's such a nifty system - we get all updated addresses automatically, and it improves the credit scoring processes so it's very easy to buy things online, etc.
    - Symbiote 9y ago
      It's said British Citizen since 1983. I live in Denmark, so I have a Danish "personnummer". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject
nly 9y ago
The defacto databases for residency are those held by the UKs 3 main credit reference agencies, who all have access to the electoral roll and offer address verification as a service. e.g. http://www.experian.co.uk/business-express/identity-solutions/identity-check/ http://www.experian.co.uk/business-express/identity-solution...
- lucaspiller 9y ago
  Those services/databases don't really verify anything though. They tell you if the details given match a person, but they don't verify that the person giving them is who they say they are. Last year I had a number of cases of identify fraud. In one case somebody went into a phone shop, gave just my name and address, and walked out with a iPhone 7 and a £60/mo contract. As the director of a limited company my name, address and date of birth are public record, so it seems really stupid that this is how identity is usually 'verified' in the U.K. As there is no way to remove yourself from these databases (short of committing credit score suicide), I now pay £10/year to be on another database: https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals

kpil 9y ago

Is that for any particular reason? There has been a national identity register here since 400 years, so I might be a bit biased, but I never really saw a problem in everyone knowing where other people live. The most common problem is you have an abusive ex-husband, and some similar things like that, but then the national identity database is just a very minor side-problem compared to the actual problems...

Symbiote 9y ago
A feeling that other European countries with such a system abused them during WW2 etc, or an appeal to tradition and a feeling that British people should be free from such systems and not reduced to mere numbers.
- kpil 9y ago
  It still says "subject" in your passport, regardless of if you have a number or not ;-) But yeah, I get parts of it. I remember that my granddad was always a bit miffed over the identity number he got, since he lived half his life without it. Before that the name and address was considered unique enough. But it's such a nifty system - we get all updated addresses automatically, and it improves the credit scoring processes so it's very easy to buy things online, etc.
  - Symbiote 9y ago
    It's said British Citizen since 1983. I live in Denmark, so I have a Danish "personnummer". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject

nly 9y ago

The defacto databases for residency are those held by the UKs 3 main credit reference agencies, who all have access to the electoral roll and offer address verification as a service. e.g. http://www.experian.co.uk/business-express/identity-solutions/identity-check/ http://www.experian.co.uk/business-express/identity-solution...

lucaspiller 9y ago
Those services/databases don't really verify anything though. They tell you if the details given match a person, but they don't verify that the person giving them is who they say they are. Last year I had a number of cases of identify fraud. In one case somebody went into a phone shop, gave just my name and address, and walked out with a iPhone 7 and a £60/mo contract. As the director of a limited company my name, address and date of birth are public record, so it seems really stupid that this is how identity is usually 'verified' in the U.K. As there is no way to remove yourself from these databases (short of committing credit score suicide), I now pay £10/year to be on another database: https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals