[no2id-supporters] NO2ID Newsletter No.66

Fri Mar 2 12:07:58 GMT 2007

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    NO2ID Supporters' Newsletter No. 66 - 2nd March 2007

*Contacting us:* Call or email the office - 020-7793-4005 or 
(office at no2id.net). Please do not reply to this email. (The from address 
is the not a working email address)

      4 WEEKS TO ID-DAY - BUILDING THE PRESSURE

In January, NO2ID declared 26th March 2007 as 'ID-Day' to mark the 
predicted opening of the first ID interrogation centres.

Since then, our claim that intrusive "interviews" will begin for some 
passport applicants this April has been confirmed, and the launch of our 
'Take a hike, Tony' campaign [Newsletter 65] forced the chief executive 
of the UK Identity and Passport Service (UKIPS) to go on national TV and 
admit that everyone is going to have "to go through a little bit more 
inconvenience" to get their passport in future.

All because the government has decided to use the passport as a way to 
force you to get an ID card.

People need to know. More specifically, those who are liable to be 
called in for an official grilling (mainly, but not exclusively, 16-24 
year olds) need to know NOW so they can apply for their passport before 
the interrogation centre network becomes fully operational.

Please download a copy of our 'Take a hike, Tony' factsheet from the 
Renew for Freedom website - 
http://www.renewforfreedom.org/Take_a_hike_Tony.pdf - and distribute it 
as widely as possible. Print it out and stick it in your window, on 
noticeboards, hand it out as a flyer at stalls and meetings, send it by 
e-mail. Write a letter to your local paper, or - if you're a member of a 
club, party or association - their newsletter. Link to it from your blog 
or website using the banner ads at 
http://www.renewforfreedom.org/promote.html

Use your imagination - but get the word out.

And with just 4 weeks to go, whenever you speak to people or groups or 
write anything, don't forget to keep planting the seed that: "ID-Day is 
26th March 2007". We'll have more information in the next newsletter

      What's next?

        Local groups

We now have a new local group in Ruthin, Wales (contact at 
ruthin at no2id.net). We have groups in 36 of the 69 locations of ID 
interrogation centres. If you can help to set up a local group in one of 
the remaining towns then please contact us at (office at no2id.net). A full 
list of local groups can be found at (www.no2id.net/localGroups) , a 
list of the interrogation centres can be found at 
(www.no2id.net/getInvolved/idCentres.php) , there is also a detailed 
discussion of the interrogation centres on our forum 
(http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?t=13329)

        NO2ID Cambridge Campaign stall

Cambridge NO2ID will be running Saturday street stalls outside Cambridge 
Guildhall from 10am onwards on Saturday 10th March and Saturday 7th 
April. Location Map: http://tinyurl.com/eo42r. Volunteers to help very 
welcome - contact Andrew Watson via cambridge at no2id.net, or on 07710 469624.

        Saturdays 1pm - 3pm - NO2ID Edinburgh Campaign stall

After a short break during Christmas and Hogmanay NO2ID Edinburgh has 
resumed its regular Princes Street campaigning stall on Saturdays. We 
shall be at our usual location at the east end of Princes Street, 
opposite the Balmoral Hotel, from 1pm - 3pm. We use our stall to raise 
public awareness of the Identity Cards scheme, collect donations and 
entries for the NO2ID petition, and also to increase membership of our 
group.  Please do pop by for a chat if you happen to be around. We aim 
to have the stall up and running most Saturdays, and new volunteers are 
always very welcome. You can see photos of our stall and group contact 
details at: www.no2id-scotland.net/edinburgh/

        2nd March - Channel 4 Insider programme lets Charles Clarke
        promote ID cards

Friday, 2nd March 7.30-8pm on Channel 4. "Clarke is an enthusiastic 
exponent of identity cards and travels to Estonia to see how this former 
totalitarian regime has embraced an advanced ID card system." We will 
have to see whether Channel 4 will balance this programme with thirty 
minutes against ID cards.

        5th March, Number 10 Webchat with James Hall, chief of the UK
        Identity and Passport Service(UKIPS)

Monday, 5th  March 4-5pm. The 10 Downing Street website have set up 
another webchat with the head of UKIPS. Perhaps Mr.Hall will explain why 
UK citizens are set to be interrogated when applying for a new passport. 
Pose your question at http://www.webchat.pm.gov.uk/index.asp?webchatID=34

        5th March - Highbury NO2ID March meeting(1st Monday of each month)

Monday, 5th March 6.30 for a 7pm start at the Jorene Celeste pub, 153 
Upper Street, Islington.  All welcome for an informal meeting to discuss 
NO2ID's latest action 'Take a hike, Tony!' and future events. Highbury's 
meetings will now be held on the first Mondays of each month.

        5th March - Wimbledon NO2ID First Meeting

Monday, 5th March 8pm at the South Wimbledon Community Centre, Haydons 
Road. Having just formed we are slowly getting things together and a 
meeting for supporters has been arranged, tt will be an informal affair 
to have an opportunity to meet up and discuss moving things forward, 
running a stall in the town centre,and raising our profile in the 
area,etc. For more info contact wimbledon at no2id.net

        1st Tuesday of the month - Hackney NO2ID monthly meetings (Next
        Meeting:  Tuesday 6th March)

The Hackney local group covering London E8, E5, E9 & N16 areas meet on 
the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30 in Cafe Bohemia by Hackney 
Central Station. New support very welcome to help raise awareness over 
the coming months

        8th March - NO2ID Edinburgh meeting

Thursday, 8 March 7.00-9.00 pm at The Library, Quaker Meeting House, 7 
Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL. Street map: 
(http://tinyurl.com/lubac). Light refreshments available. The Edinburgh 
NO2ID group will continue planning to intensify its campaigning. With 
the forthcoming elections for the Scottish Parliament, where all the 
parties apart from Labour have declared themselves against ID cards, 
with the imminent opening of the local ID Interrogation Centre and with 
the continuing farce of the Scottish National Entitlement Card, there is 
plenty for members to get their teeth into. All are welcome.

        10th March - King's Lynn Street Stall

Saturday, 10th March -  Street stall to advertise forthcoming public 
meeting, from 10am. Volunteers needed! Contact kings.lynn at no2id.net or 
text/call James on 07778 966395.

        16th March - NO2ID King's Lynn Public Meeting

Friday, 16th March 7.00 - 9.30 pm at The Globe Hotel, King's Lynn 
(conference room). Platform Speakers: Henry Bellingham MP, Andrew Duff 
MEP, David Shayler, Andrew Watson. Light refreshments available, all 
welcome!!

        17th March - Norwich Street Stall

Saturday, 17th March -  Street stall to advertise forthcoming public 
meeting, from 10am. Volunteers needed! Contact norwich at no2id.net or call 
Rose on 01603 612355.

        17th March - Tunbridge Wells Street Stall

Saturday, 17th March. Following on from our recent successes - a live 
interview opposite pro-ID Dover MP Gwynne Prosser on Radio Kent and our 
2nd stall in the Pedestrian Precinct we are now planing a 3rd stall. For 
more details contact tunbridge.wells at no2id.net

        23rd March - NO2ID Norwich: Public Meeting

Friday, 23rd March 2007 7pm-9pm at Hellesdon Community Centre, Middleton 
Lane, Hellesdon NR6 5SR. Norwich NO2ID will be holding a public meeting, 
speakers: Simon Wright (Lib-Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for Norwich 
South), Adrian Holmes (Green Councillor: Norwich City Council), Vandra 
Ahlstrom (UKIP Norfolk Chairman and Spokesman). All are welcome. Map: 
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=NR65SR

        24th March - Glasgow NO2ID Comedy Gala Benefit

Saturday, 24th March 8pm until late at the Old Fruitmarket. In what is 
sure to be one of the highlights of the Glasgow International Comedy 
Festival, some of Britain's top comedians and comediennes will be 
performing in a NO2ID benefit gala. Tickets are on sale now! Phone 0870 
013 5464 or buy your tickets on-line at 
http://www.secxtra.com/Action/WhatsOnSearch?EventId=BENEF07
More details at http://www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com/acts/no2id.htm
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      What just happened?

        NO2ID Give evidence to UK Borders Bill Committee

On Thursday(1st March) NO2ID's Phil Booth and Guy Herbert gave evidence 
to the UK Borders Bill Committee. Alongside Ross Anderson of the 
Cambridge Computer Laboratory NO2ID spoke about the implications of the 
introduction of biometrics under the Borders Bill and how they represent 
a stepping stone to the ID card scheme.
Audio of the committee can be found at 
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Player/index.aspx?Encoding=6355

        Scarborough Borough Council votes against ID cards

On Monday(26th February) Scarborough Borough Council passed a motion 
against the government's ID cards scheme. The motion cites the 
"estimated cost of £22 billion and rising" which could be better spent 
within local communities. Councillor Rob Broadley said: "A letter is to 
be sent to the Home Office registering our opposition." For more 
information about other councils that have voted against ID cards and 
how to encourage your local council to do the same see 
www.no2id.net/resources/motions/index.php

        Blair tears up guarantees made to Parliament about fishing
        expeditions

Announcements last week that UK Police will be able to trawl the 
National Identity Register for fingerprints found at the scene of crimes 
is in direct contradiction to assurance they made during the passage of 
the ID cards bill through parliament. Home Office minister Tony McNulty 
stated in Standing Committee D on 6 July 2005: "There are safeguards not 
only against state agencies, for want of a better phrase, *going fishing 
in the database* but against misbehaviour and abuse of the database by 
those who manage the system." Strange then that on BBC's 'The World at 
One' last week Joan Ryan was so keen to point out that the powers 
allowing Police to search the National Identity Register are clearly 
spelt out in the act. Caught in a lie, ministers cannot deny this 
(though they'll no doubt try) - even the wording of the Act makes it 
clear that police should only be allowed to check *an individual's* record.

        NO2ID Expats spreading across the globe

NO2ID's expats group now has members or supporters in at least 19 
countries/territories: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech 
Republic, France, Ghana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malta, Malaysia, 
Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Spain, Switzerland and the USA. 
In the run-up to ID Day(26th March) expats are collecting NO2ID petition 
signatures from expats around the world. UK citizens living abroad who 
have not yet joined the expats group can find out more from expats at no2id.net

        Plans for EU wide superdatabase emerge (Prum Treaty)

At the EU Council of Ministers in Brussels on 15th February details 
emerged of plans that could mean that the UK police forces will not be 
the only ones with access to British fingerprint and DNA databases. They 
will be required to share them with police forces, security services and 
perhaps others throughout the EU. The proposals are part of the Prum 
treaty which Germany and others now want to bring into EU law. A press 
release by EU parliamentarian Alexander Alvaro said: "the Prüm Treaty is 
just a foretaste of a superdatabase that is beginning to take shape and 
which will make it possible to track European citizens from the cradle 
to the grave. The fact that all this is happening without any 
parliamentary control and effective protection of basic rights makes 
totalitarian surveillance fantasies more real - and not only for 
paranoiacs."
Details of the EU meeting can be found at 
www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/jha/92800.pdf

        No health database for Switzerland

Switzerland has no intention of building up electronic dossiers on 
patients, the federal government promised on 14 February. Health eCards 
will be phased in next year, and from 2009 they will have to be shown 
when using doctors', hospitals' or pharmacists' services covered by the 
compulsory health insurance schemes. But the only information required 
to be stored on the cards and the corresponding database will be basic 
administrative details - the holder's name and insurance number, and the 
name of the insurer. On a purely voluntary basis, doctors will be able 
to add some medical details to the cards if the patient asks them to do 
so - for instance, ongoing illnesses, accident sequels and allergies. 
But these will have to be deleted whenever the cardholder wishes. 
Similarly, practitioners will not be under any obligation to add 
information to the cards. The cardholder will be able to protect the 
data by adding a PIN, and they will not be accessible by insurers. The 
cards will not replace patient referral documents.

        Doctors sick of Austria's eCards

New electronic healthcare entitlement cards are going wrong 2,300 times 
a day in Austria, the country's GPs complain. The main reason, according 
to national broadcaster the ORF, is that it takes up to six weeks to 
update the cards when somebody loses or changes a job. In the meantime, 
the unlucky cardholders are "locked out". The GPs' association says they 
are tired of dealing with irate patients who have suddenly become 
unpersons. The doctors' General Secretary has come up with a low-tech 
solution for the electronically excluded: go round to your nearest 
health office and ask for a piece of paper saying that you are insured. 
He diagnoses "systemic shortcomings" in the eCard scheme. But as so 
often with technological mayhem, there is also a human factor. Use of 
surgical alcohol has risen sharply in Austria's general practices of 
late. Not for disinfecting the patients' wounds, nor for drowning the 
doctors' sorrows, but for cleaning the eCards. Some of them are so dirty 
that the card readers don't recognise them. Rather less funny is the 
Austrian government's determination to launch "electronic health files" 
in 2008.  Doctors' and patients' associations are warning of massive 
intrusions into privacy and the doctor-patient relationship. But the 
Austrian health minister has at least pledged that there will be no 
central database ...    

        US biometrics chaos - and the millions needed to put it right

The American fingerprint database for foreign visitors contains 
fundamental design flaws, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has 
admitted. Fingerprint readers in American airports and at US embassies 
worldwide will have to be replaced. According to one report, just the 
first stage of the programme to put things right will cost 50 million 
dollars. Meanwhile, the official American public spending watchdog, the 
GAO, has brought out a damning assessment of the US-VISIT programme set 
up to collect the biometrics of foreign arrivals. The auditors' report 
reveals massive bureaucracy: "the fiscal year 2006 expenditure plan 
proposed spending about $1.35 on programme management-related activities 
for each dollar spent on developing new US-VISIT capability". Published 
on 16 February, the full GAO report is online at 
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07499t.pdf
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      "ID" in the news

        Leaked memo reveals end of youth ID card - Public Servant Dailt
        - 28/2/07

The children's minister, Beverley Hughes, has decided to cancel the 
youth opportunity card, a multi-million pound scheme designed to tackle 
teenage anti-social behaviour, because of concerns over value for money 
and IT problems.
http://www.publicservant.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=2465

        ID card scheme "at risk" and facing cost hike - ComputerWorld UK
        27/2/07

The government's ID cards scheme is at risk because of huge business 
process demands that will hit the system -- at a level comparable to the 
NHS's National Programme for IT (NPfIT), analysts have warned. A 
Capacitas white paper estimates that demand on the system will reach 
1.2bn business processes a year -- a level that is comparable with the 
NPfIT system.
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=2031

        No more secrets - The Guardian 27/2/06

Tony Blair insists his government is not building a Big Brother-style 
super-database. But all the talk of 'perfectly sensible' reforms and 
'transformational government' masks a chilling assault on our privacy.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,2022115,00.html

        The pitfalls of a national database - PC Pro 26/2/07

Following an outcry from privacy activists, the Cabinet Office has 
distanced itself from a centralised national database including 
biometric, health and personal details, claiming 'wrong information fed 
into some weekend papers' had prompted the outcry.
http://tinyurl.com/2uaukc

        Collar the lot of us! Blair adds whole UK to police suspect list
        - The Register 20/2/07

The National Identity Register will allow police to add the entire adult 
population of the UK to their suspect list, giving them the opportunity 
to check fingerprints left at scenes of crime against those collected 
from ID card and passport applicants, says Tony Blair. Nor are 
fingerprints in other EU countries necessarily safe - the introduction 
of biometric technology, he adds, will "improve the flow of information 
between countries on the identity of offenders.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/20/blair_fingerprint_suspects/

        European e-ID card conference announced - tuvps.com 20/2/07

The independent European e-Identity & Security Association (eema) has 
announced its conference for this year [8-9 March in Leuven Belgium], 
which will investigate the existing proposals in Europe regarding e-ID 
cards in government and industry.
http://tinyurl.com/27w5us   

        Labour will force everyone to give fingerprints at ID card
        interview centres - The Telegraph 19/2/07

Ministers plan to force all adults to travel miles at their own expense 
to fingerprint scanning units so their details can go onto an identity 
card database. From 2009, everyone will have to attend one of 69 
"interview centres", whose locations are revealed today for the first time.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/18/nid18.xml

        NHS patient bar codes slammed - Out-Law.com 16/2/07

The NHS has proposed making patients wear bar code bracelets or RFID 
tags as a way of saving hospital time and money, but identity card 
opponents have said that the measure means treating patients "like boxes 
of bandages".
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/19/nhs_rfid_scheme/

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter - 
Editor(newsletter at no2id.net) )
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Publication details: © NO2ID 2007 - 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
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