Bryan Glick at computing.co.uk has published an article calling for the pessimism over new technology to end. Brian provides a pop quiz with the following;

• On identity cards – are they a) an inevitable part of a 21st century society that help to improve security and reduce identity theft or b) Big Brother in your wallet.
• On CCTV – is it a) an unfortunate but necessary tool for reducing street crime and not a problem if you are a law-abiding citizen or b) Big Brother up a lamp post.
• On smart electricity meters – are they a) an essential way to better monitor and manage your household energy use and reduce carbon emissions or b) Big Brother in your home.
• On radio frequency identification (RFID) – is it a) a way to reduce supply chain costs, cut retail prices and cut supermarket queues or b) Big Brother in your underpants.

And goes on to write;

“I have often heard the argument that the danger with something like identity cards is how do we know a future government might not want to use the information in ways we can not foresee. Frankly, if we find ourselves with a government that thinks that way, ID cards will be the least of our worries“.

What Bryan fails to mention is that a growing number of people are, indeed, seeing such a government being formed and created and know that if you allow it to be created it will be too late to be pessimistic.