6 February 2009
The House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution's report, 'Surveillance: Citizens and the State' published today [1] gives a respectable voice to NO2ID [2] has been saying since 2004, and before. Many of the 40-odd recommendations echo the demands of privacy campaigners who have been dismissed as 'extremist' by ministers. But there is one piece missing.
The report is silent on the massive information sharing powers in Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, currently being debated in Commons Committee [3]. This proposal appears in legislation to coincide with the report, but has been a key part of the 'Transformational Government' database state agenda in official documents for a long time[4]. It would allow departments to makeregulations for officials to take any information and use it for any purpose, without any parliamentary debate.
Phil Booth, NO2ID's National Coordinator said:
`The report screams - Stop! Stop unwarranted surveillance. Stop abusing, misusing and losing citizens' information. Stop building the database state.
`But the government has just stamped on the accelerator. It is not listening.'-ENDS-
Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308
Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166
The NO2ID Campaign
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ
enquiries@no2id.net
Tel: 07005 800 651
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