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In the UK, Tony Blair has made it pretty clear that a universal ID card could be on its way for all Brits and across the ditch in Queensland, the state government is gearing up to issue "smart" drivers' licences -- a move that has rattled the chains of civil libertarians.

Then there's the contentious issue of RFID (radio frequency identification) tags that are gradually being introduced to a range of products including such things as car tyres. These tags have the potential (and I must stress the word *potential* to allow such items to be tracked as they travel past sensors designed for such a purpose.

Let's not forget either that most major cities are already sprinkled with numerous TV cameras that allow authorities to monitor virtually every urban street corner and bus stop.

Many of our more expensive "luxury" cars are now coming fitted with GPS systems that can also relay the vehicle's position back to a central location -- thus making it easy to track and recover them when/if they are stolen.

Some US rental-car companies are fitting these GPS units to all the vehicles in their fleets to reduce the risk of theft and fine drivers for such things as speeding -- even if their infringement wasn't detected by police.

Do you have a cellphone? If so, you should regularly remind yourself that cellphones periodically and covertly "phone home" to tell the network (and those who run the network) roughly where we are in the country by identifying the active "cell" in which we're located.

If you use your credit card or EFTPOS card to make regular purchases then you're also leaving an easily followed trail of your movements and activities which, I'm sure, the banks would make available to the relevant government agency if it were demanded.

With the prospect of toll-roads looming, and John Banks threatening to reimpose a fee for crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge, it's likely that our cars will soon be fitted with little RF transponders which will identify us to the toll-gates and quite probably to speed cameras and other "enforcement" devices as well.

As you can see -- the technology with which we surround ourselves is already betraying our location, our activities, our movements and our habits -- so would it really be a major issue if we ended up with state-issued ID cards?

If I recall correctly, a previous National Government mooted this prospect some years ago but was shouted down by the masses. Of course the government of the day simply went ahead and did the next-best thing forcing a move to photo-drivers' licences, which have now become the defacto ID card most NZers are required to produce when required to prove their identity.

So, when (and I say *when* not *if* because it's a certainty) the government decides that we should all be using official state-issued ID cards, will you object -- or will you simply realise that such a card is not that much of an issue, in light of how much our technology snoops on us already?

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