Spies-R-Us
NO2ID Supporters' Newsletter No. 83 - 26th October 2007
JUST BECAUSE THINGS *SEEM* QUIET...
...doesn't mean they aren't pushing ahead.For all his talk of 'liberty' and hand-wringing about privacy, Gordon Brown appears unswerving in his support of the National ID Scheme and vastly-expanded sharing of your personal information across government. Ministers may say "we should have a debate" on this and that, but it's all a smokescreen - they're carrying on regardless.
The Home Office just shortlisted 8 lead suppliers to go into the next stage of ID procurement, predicted to last until June 2008. ID interrogations for 16+ year olds begin in earnest this autumn, a year later than intended. The price of the passport has just been hiked again, ramping up to pay for ID cards and the rest of the scheme.
The battle is far from over, but only with your help and support can we keep the pressure on and win.
Over the past three years, NO2ID and its supporters have helped wake the "sleepwalking" nation. We've directly and demonstrably influenced the national media, public and Parliamentary opinion. Few would now deny that we're living in a surveillance state, and it's getting *much* worse. PLEASE JOIN THE CAMPAIGN NOW - it's more important than ever.
Your subs and donations keep the national office in operation, and help support campaigning the length and breadth of the UK. Every penny you give is spent on the fight against ID cards and the database state. Don't wait until it's too late.
If you haven't done so already, or if you've been meaning to renew, please download a form or set up a standing order - details on our website: http://www.no2id.net/getInvolved/join.php
+++ STOP PRESS ++
'TAKING LIBERTIES' GOES GRASSROOTS
NO2ID have been given permission by Revolver (the UK distributors) to hold "non-theatrical" screenings of 'Taking Liberties' - i.e. local groups and supporters can show the DVD to a public audience, so long as they are not charged for entry. The film provides an ideal springboard for discussion, debate and reaching new people.
***PLEASE NOTE*** You will still need to ensure that the screening venue has an appropriate Premises License from the Local Authority. For venues without a Premises License and for audiences of up to 499 people, a Temporary Event Notification (TEN) can be issued for just £21.
As well as copies of Revolver's permission and further details / TEN forms, we have a limited number of A1-sized posters that can be used to promote screenings - if you would like to organise one, please contact national.coordinator@no2id.net
What's next?
BIRMINGHAM / WEST MIDLANDS REGIONAL MEETING
Phil Booth, National Coordinator, will be coming to Birmingham this November for a meeting of all NO2ID groups in the West Midlands, open to everyone who wants to do something in the fight against ID cards and the database state on their patch. Come and learn how to set up a group and campaign in your area; meet other campaigners and share ideas; find out where the ID scheme and related initiatives are heading, and what you can do about it.DATE & TIME: Saturday 24th November 2007, 10:30am for 11:00am start.
VENUE: The Priory Rooms, Friends Meeting House, 40 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF
[Heading on after 13:00 to The Old Contemptibles, 175 Edmund Street for lunch/beer and further planning.]
Local groups news
We now
have groups in
36 of the 69 locations
of ID
interrogation centres (see www.no2id.net/getInvolved/idCentres.php).
If
you can help to set up a local group in one of the remaining towns then
please contact our Local Groups liaisons Matty and Deborah at
(local.groups@no2id.net). A
full list of
local groups
can be found at www.no2id.net/localGroupsCanterbury & Newport groups get new co-ordinators
We have a new group co-ordinator, Mike Singleton, for the Newport NO2ID. He and the Newport group can be contacted at (newport@no2id.net). Our Canterbury group also has a new co-ordinator, Carol McIntosh who can be contacted at (canterbury@no2id.net).Lancaster NO2ID looking for new co-ordinator
Our Lancaster group is looking for a new group co-ordinator. Anyone in the area interested in taking on this role should contact lancaster@no2id.net and come to their next meeting.Saturdays 1pm - 3pm - NO2ID Edinburgh street stall
Every week, weather permitting, you will find our campaigning stall at the east end of Princes Street, opposite the Balmoral Hotel. Do drop by for a chat. New volunteers - please contact John (edinburgh@no2id.net), and for more group information see http://www.no2id-scotland.net/edinburgh/Most Saturdays 2pm - NO2ID Glasgow Street Stall
Most Saturdays there are stalls in Glasgow city centre (usually Buchanan Street) from about 2pm. Volunteers are always welcome, please contact Geraint if you would like to help: glasgow@no2id.netPassport interrogations (Glasgow)
Glasgow NO2ID are keen to hear from anyone who has been summoned to
attend the interrogation centre at Blythswood House after applying for
their first passport. Please contact Geraint at glasgow@no2id.net or
Charlie at myspace.com/no2idglasgow30th October and 13th, 27th November - Glasgow NO2ID fortnightly meeting
Tuesday, 30th October, 13th November and 27th November at 8pm in Mono. Glasgow NO2ID's regular fortnightly meetings. All welcome. Map: http://www.glasgow-no2id.org.uk/meeting.html31st October - Leicester NO2ID monthly meeting
Wednesday, 31st October 7.30pm at The Blues pub, Oadby. All welcome.1st November - Glasgow City Council to debate anti ID cards motion
Thursday, 1st November - Glasgow City Council will be debating a motion opposing ID cards. The motion is being proposed by the Green group, with support promised from Conservative, Liberal Democrat and SNP councillors. If you live in Glasgow, please write to your councillors, particularly those from the Labour party, asking them to support the motion. You can find out who your councillors are, and their contact details, on the Glasgow council website: http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/YourCouncil/Council_Committees/Councillors/
1st November - Oxford NO2ID meeting
Thursday, 1st November 8pm at The Mitre on the High Street (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=the+mitre+oxford), Oxford NO2ID will be having another informal meeting. We will be discussing our progress towards a public meeting. This had a boost when election fever was rampant - we contacted all the local candidates about a possible hustings. This means we have plenty of local parliamentary candidates (including Peter Tatchell) who would be keen to speak at such an event. Further ideas on other speakers or other campaigning opportunites would be very welcome. See you there.3rd November - NO2ID Cambridge Stall
Saturday, 3rd November at 10am in the usual spot outside Cambridge Guildhall. Location Map: http://tinyurl.com/eo42r. We hope to have a local MEP with us for a photo opportunity. As ever, volunteers to help very welcome - please email cambridge@no2id.net, or text/call Andrew on 07710 469624 if you can make it.7th November - Worcester NO2ID inaugural meeting
Wednesday, 7th November 8pm at The Portobello, 139 Bransford Road, Worcester (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl&q=). The recently resurrected Worcester branch is now up and running, with a campaign targeting all ninety plus city and county councillors, as well as the local and regional media. All welcome.7th November - Cambridge NO2ID pub meeting
Wednesday, 7th November 7.30pm at the Free Press (pub), 7 Prospect Row, Cambridge CB1 1DU (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=cb1+1du). Cambridge NO2ID's informal pub meetings are on the first Wednesday of each month. For more details contact cambridge@no2id.net, or text/call Andrew on 07710 469624.8th November - Taking Liberties Screening, Manchester
Thursday, 8th November 7.30-9pm at the Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester. Manchester Projectile Films, in association with Manchester NO2ID and Manchester Defy-ID, present a screening of acclaimed documentary Taking Liberties. The screening will start at 7:30pm sharp, and will be followed by a discussion session in the Waterhouse pub on Princess Street.10th November - Manchester NO2ID Street Stall
Saturday, 10th November 1-3pm in St. Anne's Square. The main objectives of the afternoon will be to raise awareness among the public, engage people in discussion about the NIR, and collect petitions for the NO2ID petition to keep people in touch with the campaign. We'll meet in the square itself at 1pm to set up shop; feel free to join us to lend a hand or just chat. You don't need any experience or equipment, just a bit of time to spare and a friendly smile! For more information email manchester@no2id.net or call 07982 814441.14th November - Manchester NO2ID Meeting
Wednesday, 14th November 7-9pm in the upstairs function room of the Town Hall Tavern, Tib Lane, Manchester. Sadly, this venue is not wheelchair-accessible; please contact us if you have accessibility needs. At our monthly meetings we discuss the state of the NO2ID campaign, what we've been up to recently and where we're going in future. Everyone is welcome, newcomer or not, curious or committed. The Town Hall Tavern serves reasonably-priced, good quality food until 9pm so you don't need to pop home for tea - you can even order your meal brought up to the function room. For more information email manchester@no2id.net or call 07982 814441.What just happened?
'They're coming for your kids' follow-up
The good people at Action on Rights for Children (ARCH) have just set up 'eCAF alert', an independent, confidential route to collect and analyse practitioners’ views and observations on the new eCAF system currently being "rolled out" across children's services and agencies. If you are involved in the field and have anything you'd like to share in absolute confidence, please visit http://www.ecafalert.org.uk/Cambridge hoist Identity Fraud Prevention Week by its own petard
Cambridge NO2ID helped publicise National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, with Alex Hayes being interviewed by Jeremy Sallis on Radio Cambridgeshire on Friday 12th October. Needless to say, she took the opportunity to mention that the government ID card scheme would likely make ID fraud worse, not better. If the government really cared about identity fraud then it would buy every household in the UK a free shredder, rather than pretending that issuing ID cards and putting everyone on a national database is somehow going to help.Listen again at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ajwatson/no2id-audio/07-10-12_Radio_Cambs.mp3
Manchester NO2ID gets new contact phone number
As part of their ongoing attempts to make the group more contactable,
Manchester NO2ID now has its own mobile phone number. This number will
be distributed on all future Manchester NO2ID literature and made
public on the groups website etc. The number is 07982 814441.
Manchester NO2ID's focus is turning to the Scottish Entitlement Card -
this Oyster-style card, rolled out under the guise of free bus travel
for pensioners, already has over half a million people on a centralised
entitlement database used for multiple purposes. They are calling on
Manchester supporters tp please contact your councillors about this
issue at http://www.writetothem.com/ and
make sure that the proposed
GMPTE travel pass is not used to compel Manchester citizens into the
Database State.Cardiff NO2ID off to a flying start
Our new NO2ID Cardiff group held its first successful meeting on 18th October. The group agreed having a regular monthly meeting on the third Thursday of every month at 7.30pm (the next meeting will be on the 15th November). The group plan to lobby MPs, councillors and Assembly members as well as inform the public about ID cards and the National Identity Register. Group co-ordinator Solomon Cardy said: "Informing the public is probably the most important thing at the moment as most of the public seem to be ill informed about this issue and some think that the whole plan has been thrown away as there is little talk of it recently." The group also plan to set up a stall in Queen St, Cardiff every Saturday at 1.30 (meet at 1.15ish outside Nationwide in Queen St). For more information contact (cardiff@no2id.net).Co-op fingerprint payment system no so popular after all
Back in 2006 the Midcounties Co-operative Society won the 'Most Effective Use of IT in Retail' award as part of the Effective IT 2006 awards for the introduction of a biometric payment system 'pay by touch' (see Newsletter issue 53). The Co-op claimed that a survey they took showed that "more than half the customers questioned said they had either registered for the system or intended to do so". This was of some surprise to our supporters in Oxford who told us that they had never seen anyone use the system. An article in last week's Computing magazine reports that "the Co-op pilot has had positive results. But rollout has stalled". A reader comment on the online version says: "Contrary to the statement above, I visited my local Co-op supermarket recently where they 'were' using Pay by Touch; the system has now been removed so I think there's a bit of 'spin' in the above comments". Pay by Touch are now looking to banks to revive their biometric system.California bans forced RFID implants
A law which took effect in California on 15 October prohibits the forced implant of RFID chips. In practice, this makes it illegal to require somebody to have an RFID implant under the skin as a condition for receiving something else - such as a salary or government benefits. Reports suggest that about 2000 people have had chips implanted to date.ID cards no good for AVS, German court says
German porn sites which require an ID card number before access are not complying with laws to protect the under-18s, the country's highest civil court has ruled. The judges pointed out that children can easily "borrow" IDs from their parents or other adults. So ID numbers are not an adequate age verification system (AVS).RFID: do what I say, not what I do
Among the voices telling Germans that the RFID chips in their passports are perfectly secure, the soothing tones of the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) are sometimes to be heard. So the citizenry was less than charmed to learn that the BKA's President has bought a screened cover for his own travel document. But German diplomats need not worry. They are to be exempted from carrying chipped passports, due to "the particular risk situation"."ID" in the news
E-borders kills off UK-Ireland passport free travel - The Register 25/10/07
The UK's implementation of an electronic borders system by 2009 will mean the end of the UK-Republic of Ireland Common Travel Area, which allows passport-free travel between the two countries. The move will not however lead to the introduction of border controls on the Republic's land border with Northern Ireland, but will lead to passport checks, or something very like them, for travellers between Northern Ireland and the UK mainland.http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/
10/25/u_ireland_passport_issues/
Visitors to Japan to be fingerprinted - The Financial Times 25/10/07
Millions of visitors to Japan will be required to have their photographs and fingerprints taken from next month as part of new immigration procedures meant to help prevent terrorist attacks. The move, which includes fingerprinting longtime permanent foreign residents, marks the first time a country other than the US has introduced such procedures.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6b5d18a
2-8285-11dc-a5ae-0000779fd2ac.html
Kiwis felt ID cards wouldn’t fly - Computer Weekly 25/10/07
New Zealand has rejected physical identity cards, central databases and data matching in creating its national identity scheme, one of the scheme's architects told the RSA Europe conference in London on 24 October.http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/10/25
/227715/rsa-2007-kiwis-felt-id-cards-wouldnt-fly.htm
Biometrics help security trump privacy - infosecurity magazine 22/10/07
New biometric technologies and plans for increased surveillance are jeopardising society’s right to liberty and privacy, argued David Murakami Wood, managing editor of Surveillance & Society, at the Biometrics 2007 conference on Friday 19 October. Wood used UK identity cards as his first example: “ID cards should be about securing citizens. If they become about securing the state, we need to question security and what it’s there for,” Wood argued.http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com
/news/071022_privacy.html
Schoolkid chipping trial 'a success' - The Register 22/10/07
A school in Doncaster is piloting a monitoring system designed to keep tabs on pupils by tracking radio chips in their uniforms. According to the Doncaster Free Press, Hungerhill School is testing RFID tracking and data collection on 10 pupils within the school. It's been developed by local company Darnbro Ltd, which says it is ready to launch the product into the £300m school uniform market.http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007
/10/22/kid_chipping_doncaster_go/
Plan to ‘hijack’ bus passes as ID cards - The Sunday Herald 21/10/07
A cross-border spat erupted last night over new Home Office plans for compulsory ID cards in Scotland. The Sunday Herald can reveal that the UK government is considering fast-tracking the project by using the micro-chipped bus passes held by more than a million Scots. Whitehall officials have set up a working group which will look at how to piggyback the National Identity Register (NIR) on to the Executive's entitlement card scheme.http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.
var.1775351.0.plan_to_hijack_bus_passes_as_id_cards.php
IBM, EDS, BAE Bid to Work on U.K. ID Card Program - Bloomberg 19/10/07
BAE Systems Plc, Electronic Data Systems Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. were among eight companies that won the right to bid for work on Britain's 5.3 billion-pound ($10 billion) ID card program. Five companies will be chosen in May 2008 to operate Britain's first national identification card program since World War II.http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=newsarchive&sid=aTjroTqDaaMw
Image database is latest technology added to border control platform - Computer Weekly 15/10/07
Immigration minister Liam Byrne last week unveiled a £50,000 image-based database system that associates fingerprints, a visa and a unique passport number with an individual. The pilot system to confirm the identity of visitors to the UK will run at Gatwick North Terminal from September 2007 to April 2008, using data from visa applicants from Sierra Leone. If successful, the government may extend it to cover up to five million visitors a year from non-European countries, excluding the US.http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/10/15/227475
/image-database-is-latest-technology-added-to-border-control.htm
(Please send me any items of interest you encounter - Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )
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