It's a strange world where both former MI5 staff and Microsoft are standing up for our civil liberties against the Government, but then that does say something about Tony Blair !

Not only has Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, spoken up saying:  "I don't think that anybody in the intelligence services, particularly in my former service, would be pressing for ID cards" but also Microsoft has warned about the risks to personal privacy and security from Labour's plans.

Given the problems Microsoft have had with security weaknesses in Windows and their other products, if Microsoft think computer security is a problem, it really must be !

There's more details of what Bill Gates's company has been saying here.

Labour's mandatory ID cards scheme is facing a rough ride through the House of Lords. As Labour doesn't have an overall majority in the Lords, they can't just ignore other people's views in the way they can do in the Commons.