In my case, while spending the last two days attending a conference about mobile technology (www.mobilitysummit.co.uk), my mobile has been carefully switched OFF. Switching it on would require the PIN. Once “ON” my “ICE” is currently away, helping in Sri Lanka. Some of us are just plain obstructive!

Many victims and survivors of the Asian Tsunami lost their ID cards: Hence, ID cards were useless for identification and their loss continues to cause problems to the survivors – many of whom also lost their supporting documents.

The “authorities” have been concerned that this gave some criminals the opportunity to create “new” identities.

Without ID cards, some genuine survivors were refused emergency relief aid.

In practice, dental records and sometimes DNA were the most reliable identifiers. However, DNA tests were very expensive and led to very long delays.