22 January 2005
In the post this week we received a petition of 134 signatures objecting to ID cards (with or without biometric details), collected unprompted by a supporter in Street (not the street, but a market town in Somerset, for the geographically challenged). If every registered supporter we currently have followed her example, we'd have 800,000 supporters. But we can all find 3 friends who feel strongly about ID control and get them to join NO2ID, surely?
Polls suggest there are up to 3 million people who object to ID cards strongly enough to consider civil disobedience--never mind change their vote. Our potential colleagues are out there. It is up to us all to find them.
Meanwhile, political scientists suggest that the forthcoming General Election will be decided by only 900,000 undecided voters. If NO2ID can grow as big as it should be, politicans will listen.
Meanwhile, it is unclear they have a grip on the issue...
The Identity Cards Bill is now being scrutinised by Standing Committee B of the House of Commons.
Their first and second committee sittings were on the Tuesday(18th January), in the morning and afternoon respectively. They look set to meet for just six more sittings, concluding on the 27th.
Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs spoke out against the guillotine at the first sitting, but the programme motion, forcing the timetable, was accepted by 11 votes to 5.
Referring to the Identity Cards Bill, but the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, too, Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told the committee "the amount of power that the state is taking over the individual is unprecedented", adding that "the legislation should not be rammed through Committee in only eight sittings"
So far 184 Amendments to the bill have been tabled, just one from the government. The Committee is made up of 13 Labour MPs, 5 Conservatives and 2 Liberal Democrats. It seems unlikely that the bill will be amended in any meaningful way.
After the Committee Stage the Identity Cards Bill will get its Report Stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons. This is the last stage before it is presented to the Lords. We urgently call on all supporters to contact their MPs, Councillors, AMs and MSPs to make them aware of your concerns and to point out that ID cards are not a popular measure, despite what a number of them believe.
Conservative MPs in particular should be asked why they believe the Bill satifies David Davis's "five tests". Don't allow them to get away with the slack Central Office excuse that "the police think ID cards would be useful", which is neither an adequate reason for legislation nor demonstrably true.
If you get a response then please pass on details of their position to our Parliamentary Liaison, Rachael Marsh (parliamentary.liaison@no2id.net).
There are now many local NO2ID groups around the country. It is through local groups that we can really spread our message about the realities of the proposed ID card scheme to people who aren't avid students of current affairs. There are forthcoming meetings planned in Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Oxford to name but a few. Please get in touch with them if you can help out locally.
If you'd like to join them as a local contact for your town, get in touch with local.groups@no2id.net and/or your regional coordinator.
To be a contact you should be a member, and be prepared to communicate with local supporters and journalists to build up our local activity and profile.
List of local groups and contacts.
The Government has finally published its response to the NO2ID e-petition against identity cards and the National Identity Register. The response reads just like a Home Office press release. It is filled with unsubstantiated claims and platitudes. And it completely fails to address the issues 3230 of us raised.
Once again the excuse of the addition of biometrics to UK passports is a pretext to justify the proposed scheme. This is irrelevant. The International Civil Aviation Organisation standard only requires a digitised photograph. (And see In the News, below.)
No mention is made of the National Identity Register(NIR), a centralised database of registerable facts about UK citizens containing an sudit trail, which our petition mentioned explicitly.
Our response to their response.
The petition continues to help us reach more supporters and let more people express their views on ID cards. If you would like to collect paper signatures in your area, please let Guy Taylor (local.groups@no2id.net) know.
Please continue to encourage people to sign the petition at www.no2id-petition.net.
We are aware of a number of motions against ID cards and/or supporting the NO2ID campaign being put before several City Councils this month including Liverpool, Brighton & Hove, Oxford and York. NO2ID National Co-ordinator Phil Booth said:
"local authorities are likely to be one of the ones who have to assume the overspend when costs start rising. The public won't stand for a passport that costs them £120, and Gordon Brown won't be baling out the Home Office to the tune of billions."
The NO2ID website now has discussion forums and bulletin boards for supporters and members to discuss all things related to ID control, and share ideas and suggestions for the campaign. There are forums for posting links to articles, discussing the Identity, Cards Bill and announcing forthcoming events.
Thanks to all those who have come forward to help man the London office. We could still do with a handful more who are willing to fill in the odd morning, afternoon. If you live in London and have a few hours to spare during the week please volunteer to join the staff rota. (volunteer@no2id.net)
If you can't help directly, please help us with running costs. The rent in the short-term is kindly underwritten by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd, but to make the office work for us means meeting the running costs of constant lobbying by mail and by phone. Please support us with a donation.
On Saturday 22nd January, NO2ID Brighton will be running a stall on Churchill Square from 9am onwards. Contact Rob Whitehead(brighton@no2id.net) for more details.
7:30pm at Fisher Hall, Guildhall Place, Cambridge.
Speakers are to include:
NO2ID National Co-ordinator Phil Booth will be addressing the AGM of the Bradford Resource Group. Phil will also be visiting local groups and representatives of other anti-ID organisations in Manchester and Sheffield in the early part of that week.
On 21st February 1952, as part of Churchill's "bonfire of controls", the government abolished the national identity cards with much support from the population. Only fifty years later we see that the lessons of the past have been forgotten by a government apparently obsessed with "modernisation". On this 53rd anniversary of the abolition of identity cards in the UK, we should try to recall why our parents and grandparents breathed a sigh of relief at the lifting of a burden the government wants back.
We are committed to building up the national organisation
We will shortly be visiting the constituencies of prominent parliamentary supporters of ID cards to let the people their know what their reprentatives have planned for them and their families.
Find out what an extraordinarily diverse range of ideas NO2ID people have. And raise funds for the battle ahead. Details will depend on how much interest there is. Contact our events manager, Cassandra Rae (events@no2id.net) if you would like to know more.
Pathetic
UK Government response to the NO2ID online petition - Spy Blog
Another
view.
Consultant
'army' already busy on UK ID card scheme - The Register
Spend public money.
Then make the laws to justify it.
Public
Domain - The Guardian
"Next month, government-funded researchers begin a two-year study on the
management of identity in public services."
Decide your policy first. Then research the need for it.
Identity Crisis - Computer Reseller News
"While biometrics technology has always promised great benefits, recent
developments show it still has much to prove"
Patriarch rejects
rumors Muscovite's social card has sign of devil - TASS
Discomfort from the Bible
Comfort
from the famously independent Russian news service.
Genewatch
UK Report Fuels ID Card Debate - Aberdare Online
"A report criticising the National DNA database raises serious questions
about the safeguards in place for Labour's expensive ID cards according
to the Welsh Liberal Democrat Social Justice Spokesperson, Peter Black."
Technology
innovation will continue to outstrip privacy legislation - IT Director.com
"Mass surveillance is here. Its capabilities are being advanced with the
unwitting complicity of the individual citizen."
EU Driving Licence
on Way - The Scotsman
A route to a continent-wide ID surveillance system?
Home
Office tackles ID fraud. By hiring one - The Register
The value of ID in immigration control...
UK
gov ready to u-turn on passport-ID card link? - The Register
Sideways admission that it isn't helpful to comply with the ICAO
standard, after all.
(Please send me any items of interest you encounter - Editor)
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