Secondly, and you touched on this, too, there are some pretty exciting new technologies that are available: the national ID card, and you mentioned the biometric ID, radio frequency identification devices. Then I was reading through your brief and there's a note of caution. You seem to be somewhat reluctant to move in that direction: national identity cards, biometric identifiers, integrated government databases have all been suggested as methods by which to reduce the incidents of ID theft; however, these initiatives raise serious privacy issues and should not therefore be taken without thorough public consultation, debate and careful consideration of their dangers in terms of civil liberties and freedom from state control.
I wonder if you could elaborate on that. You seem to be a little reluctant to move in that direction. I wonder why.