[no2id-supporters] NO2ID Newsletter No 41

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    NO2ID Supporters' Newsletter No 41 - 17th March 2006


      Time to redouble our efforts - lobbying crossbench peers

This week the government overturned the Lords' amendment on 'creeping 
compulsion' twice! But peers are standing firm and the mood and strength 
of feeling in the Commons, with regards to compulsion, appears to have 
changed - yesterday MPs voted to reinstate compulsion by a narrower 
margin(51 majority) than 'glorification' of terrorism(59 majority).

An important point to note is that in the Lords the Crossbenchers, who 
constituted the significant part of the Government gain at the last 
Lords vote on Wednesday, are NOT actually supporting ID cards.  They are 
supporting a particular notion of the Constitution / Parliament, i.e. 
the primacy of the elected House. They are absolutely within their 
rights to keep sending the bill back though and they are in the almost 
unique position that the very matter over which the two Houses are at 
loggerheads is the interpretation of the manifesto promise itself. 
Consequently the Salisbury convention, by which legislation meant to 
deliver a manifesto promise is traditionally unopposed by the House of 
Lords, can hardly be expected to apply.

For this reason, when you write to crossbench peers you need to bear in 
mind that their shift is probably not *towards* ID cards, but is tending 
to favour the Government's position / interpretation on constitutional 
matters. People have already noted the difference in the content of the 
debates in the two Houses - you can expect this to continue.

The thing to emphasise to a crossbencher right now is not therefore an 
argument on ID cards (though, of course, we must still continue to make 
these) but rather to make a case on, e.g. Government deception and abuse 
of Parliament, misleading the House, etc. This week Lynne Jones sent an 
excellent letter to Charles Clarke asking him to apologise for 
misleading the Commons over ID cards and highlighting the lack of 
transparency and disrespect for Parliament. Read the letter at 
http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Lynne+Jones/bbd5635e-7073-4e26-bb7f-cd0252780200.htm

A list of broken manifesto promises of this government can be found on 
our forums at http://www.no2id.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4878 (scroll 
down the thread).

See http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ajwatson/no2id-peers/ for help in 
contacting Cross-benchers.
A useful chronology of the bill's passage so far can be found at 
http://www.no2id.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4964
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      What's next?


        Calling the young!

Anyone under 26 (or thereabouts) out there? Young people are a huge 
untapped resource in the battle against ID cards, and underrepresented 
in the resources of NO2ID. We're trying to get a bunch of younger 
members together to launch a youth website and produce some materials 
aimed at a younger audience. Obviously this should be organised and led 
by young people! Anyone interested, please send an email to: 
guy at no2id.net or ring 07956 681 328 and we'll get the ball rolling.


        18th March - NO2ID Swindon leafleting

Saturday 18th March 2006, 11.00 - 2.00pm, outside BHS, Swindon town 
centre. A fabulous way to spend a Saturday - good company, a good cause 
and friendly locals. Leaflets provided, just need you. If you can spare 
some time lovely. If you can't - drop by and say hello. Contact Lynda 
Warren (swindon at no2id.net).


        22nd March - Science and Technology Committee to hear evidence
        on ID cards programme

Wednesday 22nd March 2006, 9.30am in Committee Room 8, Houses of 
Parliament. The Science and Technology Committee will hold its third 
evidence session in this inquiry on Wednesday 22 March when evidence 
regarding the technology supporting the Government's Identity Card 
proposals will be heard from: Home Office - Ms Katherine Courtney, 
Director, Identity Cards Programme, Dr Henry Bloomfield, Technical Lead, 
Identity Cards Programme, Mr Nigel Seed, Project Director, National 
Identity Register and Operational Technology Infrastructure.


        18th April - NO2ID Planning meeting, Central London

Tuesday, 18th April 6.30pm at University of London Union, Room 3a, Malet 
Street WC1 (Nearest tubes: Goodge Street, Warren Street, Russell Sq). 
NO2ID invites you to an open meeting to discuss how best to carry the 
campaign forward. The meeting is free to attend but we will be asking 
for donations to help cover the cost of the room hire.
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      What just happened?


        NO2ID's position

Some people have asked why NO2ID is encouraging peers and MPs to vote 
for an amendment to make registration on the National Identity Register 
voluntary, saying a voluntary ID card is as bad as a compulsory one. 
This is a good question.

NO2ID remains entirely opposed to the government's ID scheme. But few 
people understand that the Home Office idea of "voluntary" means 
compulsion via 'designated documents'. Making a stand on this exposes 
the fraud on the electorate at the very outset of the scheme.

At this stage in the Parliamentary process there are very few options, 
but we do know that the government cannot accept such an amendment 
without derailing their whole plan, which relies on hidden compulsion. 
Very few people will enjoy the interrogation of their entire life that 
the scheme requires, so to make it properly voluntary will quickly kill 
it as the
guinea pigs tell their stories and rejection spreads. Meanwhile, each 
refusal by the Lords draws the attention of more people to the true 
nature of government plans.

Far from modifying or toning down our opposition, this is just one means 
by which we can build future resistance.


        New NO2ID events manager

This week Steve Coast was appointed as our new events manager. Steve 
will collate NO2ID events and information from across the country and 
feed it to the website and others. Local groups should let him know 
whenever you are doing something - street stalls, public meetings, 
Council votes, etc. (please bear in mind that Steve is interested in 
forthcoming NO2ID activities and unfortunately cannot offer free 
advertising for any old event). Steve can be contacted at 
(events at no2id.net).


        Government's case destroyed on Sussex airwaves in seconds

On Tuesday NO2ID Brighton's Harry Metcalfe was interviewed on Bright 
FM's lunch time news bulletin. Harry managed to attack the government's 
position on ID cards with relation to immigration, benefit fraud and 
terrorism in under two minutes. NO2ID Brighton are regularly out on the 
streets of Brighton campaigning against ID cards, they can be contacted 
at (brighton at no2id.net).


        Campaigner addresses local Labour party

On Monday 6th March NO2ID Wandsworth's Serena Martin addressed the 
Labour party's Bedford & Nightingale Branch in Tooting Bec, at the 
invitation of the ward secretary.  Lively discussion ensued, with one 
staunch advocate of nothing to hide, nothing to fear, though others were 
concerned about errors, cost, and people being denied access to services.


        1st regular NO2ID planning meeting looks at road ahead

On Tuesday evening the first of NO2ID's regular planning meetings took 
place at the University of London Union(ULU). The meeting discussed a 
variety of campaigning strategies for the aftermath of the government's 
oppressive ID cards bill becoming law. National co-ordinator Phil Booth 
echoed the views of many others when he said: "we must keep telling 
people about what ID cards will mean to them". Issues discussed included 
encouraging councils & unions to pass motions against ID cards and the 
importance of interacting with members of the public via stalls, 
leafleting and sign-up sheets. The next planning meeting will be 18th 
April, once again at ULU, all are welcome.


        ID bill in parliamentary ping pong

This week saw the ID cards bill move between the House of Commons and 
the House of Lords in a process known as parliamentary ping pong. On 
Monday night MPs voted 310 to 277(a majority of 33) to reject the Lords' 
amendment to the bill and re-introduce defacto compulsion(whereby people 
renewing their passports must register for an ID card). During the 
debate only the Home Secretary spoke in favour of ID cards. Nick Clegg 
MP pointed out that: "The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following 
definition of voluntary - 'done, given, or acting of one's own free 
will'", adding that the debate was not just about "one of the most 
expensive, illiberal follies in recent times, it is also about our 
specific disagreement on the meaning of that one word".

On Wednesday the bill returned to the House of Lords where peers voted 
by 218 to 183(a majority of 35) to remove compulsion. On Thursday 
evening the bill returned to the Commons once again. The fruit of 
anti-ID card campaigners' work was evident in the Lords as Lord Phillips 
pointed out that he had "never had such a unanimous mailbag in my eight 
years here [...] I have not had a single representation made by any 
organisation or individual in support of the Government's position in 
making this card compulsory for every citizen".

On Thursday afternoon the bill returned once again to the Commons where 
MPs voted once again to introduce back door compulsion (by 292 votes to 
241, a majority of 51). The bill will return to the Lords on Monday 
(20th March).


        Home Secretary bigs up NO2ID in commons debate

During Thursday afternoon's debate Charles Clarke once again bent the 
English language to near breaking point. He mentioned a poll 
commissioned by NO2ID ,(see last newsletter), to claim that ID cards are 
a popular measure and went on to say that: "the NO2ID poll explicitly 
asked whether the card should be issued with a passport". In fact the 
poll asked people what they thought of the fact that "the Government has 
proposed the introduction of identity cards that, in combination with 
your passport, will cost around £93". Having redefined the word 
voluntary Clarke now seems to have found a new definition of the word 
explicitly.


        Home Office Minister says renew your passport now

On Tuesday 7th March Home Office Minister Andy Burnham told The Times 
newspaper that someone who does not want to be on the National Identity 
Register "should renew their passport before the introduction of the 
scheme proper", likely to be 2008 or 2009. More details of passport 
renewal emerged in the commons on Monday when ex-ID card rebel Neil 
Gerrard asked for clarification on the rules for renewal. The Home 
Secretary said: "My understanding is that an individual can renew their 
passport at any time." On Wednesday the UK Passport Service(UKPS) 
website was updated to reflect these comments.


        Passport website update

"You do not have to wait until your passport is nearly expired to renew 
it, but we can add no more than 9 months unexpired validity from the old 
passport to the new one. You can renew your passport whenever you wish, 
but you must pay the full fee and no refund can be given for the 
unexpired validity in the old passport."
See http://www.ukps.gov.uk/passport_renewing_eligible.asp


        ID Cards could go chip and pin

Home Office Minister Andy Burnham, speaking at the 'Smart Cards & 
e-Government Conference' on Wednesday, revealed that ID cards could us 
chip and pin technology instead of biometrics. Burnham said a "chip and 
pin" style code number could be used to verify cardholders' identities 
in some cases, rather than fingerprints, face and iris scans which will 
be encoded in the card."
See http://www.24dash.com/content/news/viewNews.php?navID=7&newsID=3874


        Passport offices deal won by Mapeley

The contract to set up a new network of passport offices has been won by 
Mapeley, the property company that bought the offices of the Inland 
Revenue in a controversial outsourcing deal five years ago. Mapeley will 
set up interrogation centres to be used for passport and ID card 
applications. The government sold Mapeley hundreds of Inland Revenue 
buildings which they now lease from them and will pay an estimated £2 
billion in rent over the next 20 years. As reported extensively in 
Private Eye, Mapeley maximise their profits by using tax havens, thus 
depriving the Inland Revenue of yet more money.


        Comic anti-ID website

A satirical UK website has been taking a wry look at the governments ID 
card plans. The site includes sample application forms and news reports, 
such as a story about the use of ID cards to tackle identity fraud in 
schools. The report says that "last year, hundreds of children arrived 
at their schools only to find that adult imposters had completed their 
mathematics homework for them and their marks suffered as a result". 
Other headlines include "ID Cards 'Will Not Lead to an Orwellian 
Nightmare', Says Citizen 447T/236496QH-Delta" and "Government Shelves Id 
Cards, Introduces Ego Cards Instead".
See http://www.socialscrutiny.org/doss1er-index.php


        US Government Accounting Office(GAO) raises smartcard concerns

A series of reports have been released by the US Government Accounting 
Office highlighting problems with the US government's Federal employees 
and contractors smartcard scheme(FIPS 201). Many of the issues 
highlighted are relevant to the UK's ID card scheme. One 
report(GAO-06-178) points out that: "Under the original plan, the 
smartcards were to hold the data of two fingerprints. But that would 
take so much memory it would take as long as 30 seconds to read the 
cards". The UK ID card scheme is to have 10 fingerprints as well as a 
facial image and an iris scan. Another report (GAO-05-849T) warns of the 
dangers of profiling, which is "the reconstruction of a person's 
movements or transactions over a specific period of time" which "can 
compromise an individual's privacy and anonymity". Such profiling is 
built in to the UK ID scheme, which has an "audit trail" that stores a 
record of every use of the ID card.
See http://www.gao.gov/


        Commission wants European RFID policy

A debate on Europe's approach to Radio Frequency Identification Devices 
(RFID) was launched by the EU Commission on 9 March.
http://www.no2id.net/news/newsblog/?p=378


        Supermarket 'scanners' get whole new meaning

In a disturbing new development, the Guardian today reports that the 
Co-Op is introducing 'payment by fingerprint.'
http://www.no2id.net/news/newsblog/?p=376

More news is available from the NO2ID newsblog at 
http://www.no2id.net/news/newsblog/
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      "ID" in the news


        EU Data Protection concerns: no excuse for govt databases

Following a formal Opinion issued by the European Data Protection 
Supervisor (EDPS) criticising governments' embracing of biometrics as 
being likely to lead to uberdatabases and creepage in use, identity 
verification experts TSSI agrees that there is no technical need for 
government databases.
http://www.itsecurity.com/security.htm?s=14540&sid=bf62320cb2c1203226d79913e345d681


        Beware the IDs of March

Forcing identity cards on the public would play into the hands of 
terrorists, it was claimed yesterday. As the House of Lords inflicted 
another defeat, Conservative Baroness Park of Monmouth warned that 
compulsory ID cards would expose people to great dangers. She said they 
would "expose the innermost secrets of their lives to identity theft".
http://www.mirror.co.uk/printable_version.cfm?objectid=16819376&siteid=94762


        Oyster data is 'new police tool'

Police are increasingly turning to Oyster travel cards to track 
criminals' movements, according to new figures. The smartcards, used by 
five million Londoners, record details of each bus, Tube or train 
journey made by the holder over the previous eight weeks. In January, 
police requested journey information 61 times, compared with just seven 
times in the whole of 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4800490.stm


        Implanting a GPS-microchip in the body of a human being

According to their marketing material, the ID Sniper Rifle is used to 
implant a GPS-microchip in the body of a human being, using a high 
powered sniper rifle as the long distance injector. This micro chip 
enters the body and remains there without causing any internal damage.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060222&articleId=2034


        New software removes ID from patient reports

American researchers have developed new open-source software to remove 
identifiers from patient reports. Researchers say the new open-source 
computer programme, managed to remove 98.3% of all identifiers from 1254 
pathology reports processed.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-03/bc-nos022806.php"


        UK issues first biometric passport

The UK has issued its first biometric passport in line with 
international standards, the government announced today. The scheme will 
be rolled out gradually over the next few months and by August all 
passport renewals will be replaced by new-style documents which include 
an electronic chip holding a facial biometric.
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2151432/uk-issues-first-biometric


        Spain: Spain's eID ready to go

Spain is the latest EU country to launch an eID card system. The 
Minister of Home Affairs, José Antonio Alonso, presided over an official 
ceremony marking the beginning of Spain's 'Password Generation' and the 
culmination of several years' preparation for the new electronic 
identification (ID) system.
http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/5371/194

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter - 
Editor(newsletter at no2id.net) )
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      What you can do

As the ID card bill moves back to the Lords yet again you can help us by:


        1. Lobbying a Lord , particularly crossbenchers

Ideally you should write to any Lords with whom you may have a 
connection. A list of Lords with e-mail addresses can be found at 
http://www.parliament-square.org.uk/lobby.htm#email. Lords can also be 
written to by post at the House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW. All male 
peers (except Dukes and Archbishops) should be addressed as "My Lord", 
all female peers simply as "Dear Lady [surname]". Dukes and Archbishops 
should be addressed as "Your Grace".
Lords Lobbying Tips: http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/v1/pdf/3913.pdf
How to address Lords: 
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/house_of_lords_information_office/address.cfm


        2. Getting involved with your local group

Organise leafleting, a stall or a public meeting to educate the public 
about the database that lies behind the proposed ID card scheme. See 
http://www.no2id.net/localGroups


        3. Writing to your local paper

Personal letters to your local press can be an effective way of getting 
the facts about ID cards to a wider audience. The topic will be back on 
the news agenda as the bill moves between the House of Commons and the 
House of Lords. Also remember that MPs always read their local papers.

We also maintain a list of things you can do on our website at 
http://www.no2id.net/getInvolved/other.php

Publication details: © NO2ID 2005 - 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 No.412, 78 Marylebone High Street, LONDON W1U 5AP

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