|
NO2ID Supporters' Newsletter No. 53 - 31st August 2006
Contacting us: Call or email the office - 020-7793-4005 or
(office@no2id.net).
25 DOWN - 44 TO GO
Over the summer several new local groups have been established around
the country. Amongst them
we now have groups in 25 of the 69 towns in which passport processing
centres will open this Autumn. From October all first time passport
applicants will require a face to face interview. These interviews will
eventually be extended to all applicants, as compulsory registration on
the National Identity Register is introduced. It is essential that we
have a group in each of these locations to effectively campaign in the
months ahead. There are still 44 towns where
we need a presence. If you live in one of these locations please
consider helping us by setting up a local group. The remaining towns
are:
Aberdeen, Andover, Armagh, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Blackburn, Boston, Bury
St Edmunds, Camborne, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Coleraine, Crawley,
Derby, Dover, Dumfries, Exeter, Galashiels, Hastings, Ipswich, Kendal,
Kilmarnock, Kings Lynn, Lincoln, Liverpool, Luton, Maidstone,
Middlesbrough, Newport, Northallerton, Northampton, Norwich, Oban,
Omagh, Peterborough, Scarborough, Shrewsbury, St Austell, Stirling,
Stoke on Trent, Swansea, Warwick, Wick, Wrexham, Yeovil.
If you can set up a local group in one of these towns then please
contact us at (office@no2id.net). A local group
can start with just one
person but we will help you to grow.
What's next?
New Local Groups
We now have a local groups in Barnstaple, Hemel Hepstead, and Harrow.
To find out more contact barnstaple@no2id.net, hemel.hempstead@no2id.net or harrow@no2id.net. We still
need many more local groups particularly in the locations of the new 69
passport processing centres that are opening this autumn.
Party conference season - Volunteers required
We need volunteers to help at the forthcoming party conferences in
Manchester (Labour 24th-28th Sept), Bournemouth (Tory 1st-4th Oct), and
Brighton (LibDem 16th-21st Sept) and Hove (Green 21st-24th Sept). We
also intend to cover Perth (Scottish National Party 11th-14th Oct)
and Swansea (Plaid Cymru 21st-24th Sept). Presence is
important. Even a couple hours handing out leaflets to delegates is
well worth while. In Manchester, there will be much more fun. Contact
us at office@no2id.net if you can spare
some time.
Writing to trade journals
In a previous newsletter we suggested that supporters wrote to local
papers in the summer when news is not at a peak and many have to great
effect. Writing to trade and interest groups can get through to even
more people - 'First Voice' for instance, which is the bimonthly
journal of the Federation of Small Businesses, has a circulation of
approaching 200,000. One of NO2ID's affiliates, the Association of
British Drivers, provided readers of its members' magazine with an
update on the campaign against ID cards and a plug for our 'Renew For
Freedom' campaign.
12th September NO2ID Volunteers Meeting Central London - 'The European Dimension'
Tuesday, 12th September at 7.00pm in the Brockway Hall at Conway Hall,
25 Red Lion Square, London WC1 (nearest tube: Holborn). All are welcome
to NO2ID's next regular volunteers' meeting. The meeting will be on the
theme of ID cards and the EU. The meeting is free to attend but we will
be asking for donations to help cover the cost of the room hire.
New Barnstaple NO2ID group needs your help - meeting 12th or 13th September
A new NO2ID group is being established in Barnstaple to raise awareness
before a passport processing centre is opened there this autumn. Group
co-ordinator Paul Haines told us: "The response has been good and we
are also receiving strong support from our Liberal MP and the Green
Party. As yet trades unions and other bodies have failed to respond to
our invitations, maybe because it’s the holiday season. We will be
meeting in Barnstaple on 11th or 12th September. If you live in North
Devon and would like to help, please contact barnstaple@no2id.net and
I’ll get back to you. If you have any contacts in the area who might
like to attend, pass the word on to them."
September NO2ID Cambridge Campaign stall
Cambridge NO2ID will be running street stalls outside the Guildhall,
Cambridge, from 10am onwards on Saturday 2nd and Saturday 23rd
September. Location:(http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=cb2+3qj&ie=
UTF8&ll=52.204786,0.119251&spn=0.003971,0.012167&om=1).
Drop round to collect a badge and car sticker, or just to say "Hello".
Volunteers to help run the stall also welcome. Contact Andrew Watson
via cambridge@no2id.net, or on 07710
469624.
Cambridge NO2ID - Student volunteers needed
Cambridge NO2ID is preparing to spread the word about government ID
card legislation to students arriving for the new term at both Anglia
Ruskin University and the University of Cambridge. If you're studying
at either University, and would like to help publicise NO2ID to your
fellow students, please contact cambridge@no2id.net as soon as
possible
(and preferably before term starts).
3rd & 4th September - Inverness NO2ID Campaign stall
NO2ID Inverness will have a campaign stall on the 3rd & 4th Sept at
the Glamis
Castle Country Fair
See http://www.no2id-scotland.net/local/inverness.html
4th September NO2ID Shrewsbury Initial Planning Meeting
Monday 4th September 8.15pm at the Inn on the Green, Bank Farm Road,
Radbrook Green, Shrewsbury, SY3 6DU. The pub is next to the Radbrook
Green shopping centre, and there is plenty of parking. The function
room has been booked - inside the pub and turn right. See
(www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=52.6968&lon=-2.7754&scale=5000&icon=x).
For more details contact shrewsbury@no2id.net
5th September - NO2ID Glasgow Meeting
Tuesday, 5th September at 7:30pm in Mono. Alternative arrangements: If
for any reason Mono is not suitable then we will instead go to Laurie's
across the road. Everyone is very welcome to attend.
Map: http://www.no2id-scotland.net/glasgow/meeting.html
5th September - Aberystwyth NO2ID Meeting
Tuesday, 5th September 8-9pm, venue to be confirmed. We'll be
organising our video petition, giving away badges and car stickers and
deciding on our strategy to recruit volunteers over the coming months.
All are welcome. For more information see http://aberno2id.blogspot.com/
6th September - Manchester NO2ID Flyering
Wednesday 6th September, 5:30pm - 6:30pm: Oxford Road Station Flyering.
we'll be meeting at the bottom of the Oxford Road station approach for
an hour to raise awareness. See http://manchester.no2id.net/ for more
information.
9th September - Manchester NO2ID - Oldham Day of Action
Saturday, 9th September, 1pm - 3pm: We'll be taking our NO2ID mission
out to the people of Oldham for a few hours on Saturday 9th September.
We'll meet at Manchester Victoria Station at noon for a 12:15 train, or
at Oldham Station at 12:30pm, ready for a 1pm start. See http://manchester.no2id.net/ for more information.
Saturdays throughout September - Highbury NO2ID stall/leafleting - volunteers needed
Highbury NO2ID is trying to run a stall / hand out leaflets on each
Saturday during September in order promote the 'Renew for Freedom'
campaign before the 1st October passport changes. Anyone in the North
London area who can help out for an hour or so should contact Caroline
Day at (highbury@no2id.net). The dates
planned are Sept 2nd, 9th, 16th,
23rd. Times: 11pm to 2-3pm ish. Place: Highbury & Islington tube
station.
1st October - NO2ID Comedy fund raiser gig - "Who do you think you are?" at the Hackney Empire
Sunday, 1st October, Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London, E8 1EJ.
Doors 7.30 pm. Stewart Lee, Paul Sinha (Perrier award nominee 2006),
Joise Long (Perrier best newcomer 2006), Kevin Eldon, Will Hodgeson
(Perrier best newcomer 2004), Gary Le Strange (Perrier best newcomner
2003), Andrew O'Neill, Janie Phayre, Ben Norris with compere Lucy
Porter and others TBC.
Box Office 020 8985 2424 or book online at www.hackneyempire.co.uk,
Tickets £12.50
What just happened?
Newly formed Shrewsbury NO2ID make front page news
The newly formed NO2ID group in Shrewsbury are off to a flying start
after getting NO2ID mentioned on the front page of the Shropshire Star
on Saturday. The lead story was about the passport processing centre
opening in Shrewsbury as well as 69 other locations around the country
in September. The article described ID cards as 'controversial' and
contained 2 paragraphs about the new NO2ID group. Unfortunately the
article also saw the passport centre as a source of new jobs. Local
supporters should write to the paper countering this "any job is a good
job" sentiment.
Government to expand data sharing powers
The Ministerial Committee on Data Sharing (MISC31) has decided to alter
UK Data Protection principles from September. Back in 2002 the Cabinet
Office's Performance and Innovation Unit (now the Strategy Unit)
produced a report, Privacy and Data sharing. Following on from this
report a draft data sharing bill was promised in spring 2004. However
the bill never appeared and the government has now decided to side-step
the normal parliamentary process and instead introduce data sharing
with no public debate or act of parliament. The current policy requires
public bodies to find a legal justification each time they want to
share data about individuals. From September, the new data sharing
agenda will allow public bodies to assume they are free to share
citizens' personal data with other arms of the state, so long as it is "in the public interest". In June 2004 Dr Chris Pounder, editor of
'Data Protection and Privacy Practise' warned the Home Affairs
committee that the draft ID cards bill was "all about service
delivery", adding that "if the Government wants earnestly a data
sharing linkage agenda they should put a public consultation document
out". The change could break the Council of Europe Convention on Data
Protection, the EU Framework Directive on Data Protection.
Plans to sell data to marketers could fall foul of EU data protection
Gordon Brown's plans to expand the ID cards project, whereby companies
would pay for access to the national identity register, also look set
to
breach EU data protection laws following a recent EU ruling. In 2004, a
German citizen complained to the EU Commission about the State of
Hamburg who had handed over personal data to enterprises, knowing that
they would use them for direct marketing purposes. The Commission said
that the Directive did not provide any protection against this but the
European Ombudsman intervened and the Commission agreed to review its
assessment. The Ombudsman concluded that the EU Data Protection
Directive could also provide protection against decisions by public
authorities to hand over personal data to enterprises, while knowing
that they would be used for direct marketing purposes.
See http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/decision/en/042467.htm
Co-op fingerprint payment system wins award
The Midcounties Co-operative Society have won the 'Most Effective Use
of IT in Retail' award as part of the Effective IT 2006 awards. The
Co-op won the award for the introduction of a biometric payment system
'pay by touch' which allows shoppers to pay for goods using a
fingerprint reader. The Co-op are the first retailer in the UK to use
such a system. Whilst this is not part of the government's identity
card scheme it represents a worrying step towards normalisation of
biometric technology. Effectively the co-op are testing the sort of
technology that the government scheme will use and trying to make it
acceptable for people to submit to fingerprinting to buy a bottle of
milk. This along with increased age verification demands/identity
checks
for young people since new licensing laws came into effect in November
of last year, money laundering legislation, fingerprinting of children
by schools and the such like are all
part of a normalisation process that allows the creep towards the total
surveillance state.
More Dutch fines
2,909 fines for failure to show ID were handed out in the Netherlands
during July. 270 of them were to children aged 14-15. Officially, the
number of fines imposed since showing ID became compulsory on 1 January
2005 stood at 91,353 by the end of July 2006. Proportionately, that is
equivalent to about 350,000 fines in the UK. But Dutch campaigners MMI
say the real number of ID fines is much higher.
Belgium to merge ID and health cards
Belgians will soon be asked for their electronic ID cards when using
health services - for example, when attending clinics or buying
prescribed medicines. The government has announced that the IDs will
start taking over the functions of the present electronic health
insurance entitlement cards around the end of 2008. Health insurance
information will not be added to the IDs, but will be checked online in
real time by the insurers. For the time being, the health card system
will continue to operate in parallel.
US: Lost in translation? Alabama fingerprinting policy for teachers
A report in US newspaper 'The Demopolis Times' this month details a
teacher fingerprinting and criminal records checking system in Alabama
that makes UK Criminal Records Bureau checks look tame. In the report a
superintendent for Demopolis City Schools said: "Our teachers are
fingerprinted. Now, teachers that graduate from an Alabama college are
already fingerprinted before they even start in the state school
system. The local school system will do fingerprinting on teachers
coming in from out of state". The superintendent goes on to say: "We
reserve the right to terminate a person if they have lied about their
criminal history, and usually we do. As for falsifying educational
history, we look at that case-by-case. Sometimes we terminate them
immediately unless they are a contracted employee. In that case, we
wait until the end of the year. We had one employee lie about their
background and, of course, they were terminated." Seems a little harsh.
See http://www.demopolistimes.com/articles/2006/08/14/news/news02.txt
"ID" in the news
Children's Index will only devalue parents - Daily Telegraph 31/8/06
The intentions may be honourable, but the solution is both sinister and
flawed. There are already worries that the index could fall foul of
data protection legislation, while a challenge under human rights laws
looks inevitable.
http://tinyurl.co.uk/gg9t
Baroness criticises ID card proposals - The Herald 29/8/06
Baroness Helena Kennedy, QC, one of Britain's leading defenders of
human rights law, yesterday lambasted the proposed introduction of ID
cards. Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, she said
she would "go to the wall" rather than accept their introduction in
Britain. "I am damned if they (the government) will introduce them," she said.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/68949.html
NHS IT: Unhealthy tale of NAO report - ComputerWeekly 29/8/06
Three draft NAO reports on the NPfIT released to Computer Weekly under
the Freedom of Information Act show that many of the most serious
criticisms of the NPfIT were omitted from the final publication.
Between the drafts there had been a "clearance" process with health
officials in Whitehall.
http://tinyurl.co.uk/27nm
Home Office admits to five database breaches - OUT-LAW News, 29/8/06
Security at the British Home Office's Identity and Passport Service
database has been compromised four times, with individuals' data used
inappropriately by Home Office employees and contractors. A fifth
breach has hit a Prison Service database. In three of the cases workers
were able to access data they had no authority to use and in the fourth
a worker who did have authority to access data used it inappropriately.
The fifth case involves a worker accessing the Prison Service
sentencing database, said a Home Office spokesman.
http://www.out-law.com/page-7239
Oz 'pseudo-ID card' database racked by identity fraud claims - The Register 28/8/06
Australia's citizen database was routinely searched for personal
reasons by government agency employees, some of whom have been sacked.
Police are now investigating allegations of identity fraud resulting
from the security breaches. There were 790 security breaches at
government agency Centrelink involving 600 staff. Staff were found to
have inappropriately accessed databases containing citizens'
information.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/28/oz_id_database_misused/
Accenture threatens NHS blow - Accountancy Age 28/8/06
The £12bn IT upgrade of the NHS is facing more problems with fears that
Accenture, the consulting group and the biggest contractor on the
scheme, may resign from the project. The program is already £6bn over
budget and more than two years behind schedule. According to reports,
Accenture is in negotiations with the authorities in a bid to ditch its £2bn contract.
http://www.accountancyage.com/2163067
Fingerprinting plan for pupils angers parents - Sunday Times 27/8/06
A pioneering comprehensive known for progressive, liberal policies has
upset parents by seeking to fingerprint every one of its 1,500 pupils
when they return from their summer holidays next week.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2330367,00.html
ID card fears as staff hack into Home Office database - Mail on Sunday 27/8/06
John Tullett, the technology editor of Secure Computing magazine, said
the Home Office would be 'naive' to assume that the total of recorded
breaches reflects the real number of security violations at the
department. He said: 'The trend in IT crime is towards "silent" breaches where very competent criminals get into a system and cover
their tracks so they can get in again in future, all without the victim
ever knowing.'
http://tinyurl.co.uk/krb0
Blair's ID card plan undermined by security breaches - The Scotsman 25/8/06
Tony Blair's plan for a national identity card has been dealt a fresh
blow by the revelation that several government officials have been
sacked for breaching security around the databases on which the scheme
will be based.
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1258262006
OGC must reveal findings - SupplyManagement.com 24/8/06
The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has been ordered to reveal the
outcome of its reviews of the ID card scheme. The ruling follows
Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, upholding two complaints
made against the OGC and the Treasury. The Treasury and the OGC have
until 31 August to appeal against the ruling. If they do not appeal,
they have until 7 September to disclose the information.
http://www.supplymanagement.co.uk/EDIT/CURRENT_ISSUE_pages/CI_news_item.asp?id=15137
Europe-wide security net to counter terrorism - The Guardian 17/8/06
EU ministers want airlines to provide advance passenger lists for all
flights inside Europe as well as in and out of Europe, including
domestic routes. These will be checked against the "biometric
identifier" - electronic eye scan or fingerprint - in the passenger's
passport or identity card when they check in.
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1852012,00.html
HMRC seeks to fingerprint suspects - Accountancy Age 14/8/06
HM Revenue & Customs is seeking to significantly widen its powers
to include the right to digitally fingerprint suspects. In a new
consultation document, Criminal Investigation Powers: A Technical
Consultation Document, the HMRC said the power to use new technologies
such as digital fingerprint readers would significantly help the
authority with its investigations. The Revenue is also asking for
powers to charge or bail suspects.
http://www.financialdirector.co.uk/accountancyage/news/2162270/hmrc-seeks-fingerprint-suspects
ID card fee could make government a profit - The Sunday Times 6/8/06
Tony Blair's identity card scheme could make up to £11 billion in "profits" for the government by imposing a range of additional charges
on the public, a confidential Home Office memo claims. The document
says that the "unit cost" at today’s prices will be £55 for a card and £90 for a combined card and passport. The fee for non-British citizens
is £143. Card holders will also be charged an extra addition £8 for
every time they need to change their details, to record a change in
name, marital status or address. Approximately one in ten households
move house in a single year, and the Home Office would be able to
impose hefty fines for failing to inform it of changes.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2300775,00.html
(Please send me any items of interest you encounter -
Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )
What you can do
You can help us by:
1. Joining NO2ID/donating
Please join NO2ID, if you are not already a paid-up member.(There's a
membership form at http://www.no2id.net/downloads/membForm.pdf)
OR
Donate some money towards campaign expenses. NO2ID, Box 412, 78
Marylebone High Street, LONDON W1U 5AP
2. Encouraging friends/family to renew their passport now
The ID Cards Act turns your passport into a one-way ticket to control
of your identity by the government. In October the price of a passport
will by nearly 30% to £66. If you renew your passport now you can buy
ten years of freedom for £51. Encourage others to do the same and
promote our renew for freedom website http://www.renewforfreedom.org
* We also maintain a list of things you can do on our website at http://www.no2id.net/getInvolved/other.php
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Publication details: © NO2ID 2006 - This document may be freely
redistributed in one-to-one communications or physical copies as long
as it is reproduced in its entirety including this notice. It may not
be mass-mailed without the prior permission of NO2ID.
NO2ID, Box 412, 19-21 Crawford Street, LONDON W1H 1PJ
|