ID Cards are creating more heat than light at the moment.

However, there was a throwaway mention on Radio 4 that when Napoleon III was exiled to the UK he was amazed at how easily people moved around the country. In France at that time you needed permission to visit a neigbouring town

A national database of the people could lead to electronic surveillance and hence to restrictions on the movement of non-convicted persons.

Or am I being paranoid?

I have always believed that a government should test any law by imagining the powers conferred to be used by their political opponents or political extremists. This government has never even thought about doing this for the last eight years.