From WIRED News – Court: Names Must Be Revealed
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people do not have a constitutional right to refuse to tell police their names.
The 5-4 decision frees the government to arrest and punish people who won’t cooperate by revealing their identity.
The decision was a defeat for privacy rights advocates who argued that the government could use this power to force people who have done nothing wrong, other than catch the attention of police, to divulge information that may be used for broad database searches.
Although this applies to the US I had assumed that the UK situation is pretty similar, I’ve been stopped by the police a couple of times recently in my car and been asked for my name and I’ve given it without question. Anyway it’s just occured to me how this relates to the UK Identity Card Draft Bill in which it is stated that the Police will not have the power to make an on-the-spot request to see an individual’s ID card. So I don’t actually know what the situation in this regard is at present in the UK. Given that the police will not have the power to ask for your ID card will they have the power to demand your name, which would actually amount to the same thing.
I have written a thesis on the proposed UK Identity Card Scheme. Read it and then make up your own mind.
