[no2id-supporters] NO2ID Newsletter No.74

Thu Jun 21 14:53:10 BST 2007

    NO2ID Supporters' Newsletter No. 74 - 21st June 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 not a working email address)

      CLARENCE WILLCOCK - ID HERO

In December 1950, PC Harold Muckle stopped a dry cleaner in Finchley 
named Clarence Willcock and asked him to produce his World War II 
identity card. Mr Willcock refused, saying "I am a Liberal. I am against 
that sort of thing."

On 26th June 1951, in Clarence Willcock's High Court appeal, the Lord 
Chief Justice said that "...to use Acts of Parliament, passed for 
particular purposes during war, in times when the war is past, tends to 
turn law-abiding subjects into lawbreakers, which is a most undesirable 
state of affairs."  As a result of the Willcock case and Lord Goddard's 
attack on their abuse, identity cards were abolished by Winston 
Churchill in 1952 as part of his "bonfire of controls".

Hackney & Shoreditch NO2ID will be celebrating Clarence Willcock Day 
with an evening of hip-hop, rap and poetry at the Hackney Empire next 
Tuesday, June 26th.  Details on the NO2ID website: 
http://www.no2id.net/news/events.php#143 

Please come along, or if you can't make it why not write a letter to 
your local paper declaring your own opposition to ID cards in honour of 
Clarence Willcock, on the 56th anniversary of his successful stand for 
freedom?

One person CAN make a difference.

      'TAKING LIBERTIES' COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS

Many thanks to those of you who wrote to your local cinema about showing 
'Taking Liberties', as mentioned in last newsletter. The response across 
the country has been very positive, screenings have been well attended 
and it has received some great reviews. New people are joining NO2ID as 
a direct result of seeing the film.

We have a number of complimentary tickets available on a 'first come, 
first served' basis for a screening of the film at the National Film 
Theatre next Wednesday, 27th June at 11:15am [note morning start]. If 
you would like to attend the performance, please send an e-mail entitled 
FREE TICKETS and giving your full name to: office at no2id.net

      What's next?

        Local groups news

We have local groups all over the country and in 36 of the 69 locations 
of ID interrogation centres (see 
www.no2id.net/getInvolved/idCentres.php). 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

        Manchester NO2ID calls for "Students against ID" volunteers

Manchester NO2ID are looking for people who are interested in helping 
out with a Students Against ID society in the next academic year, both 
at Manchester University and at other universities across the 
North-West. It won't involve a lot of work - just organising a presence 
at Fresher's Fair (last year the stall was manned entirely by NO2ID 
volunteers), maintaining a list of contacts (the Student's Union should 
provide a facility for this) and organising a termly meeting. The 
National Identity Register is likely to hit students early on - either 
because they're more likely to need a first-time adult passport, or 
because they'll need an ID card to get a student loan. There are other 
things we'd *like* a student society to do, but just to get the basics 
right would be a start and not much work. If you're at all interested, 
whether you'd be prepared to shoulder the responsibility yourself or 
just help someone else out, please drop an e-mail to manchester at no2id.net

        Now showing - "Taking Liberties" documentary film featuring
        NO2ID opens at cinemas

A new documentary featuring NO2ID is showing at cinemas across the UK. 
The film is described as "a shocking but hilarious polemic documentary 
that charts the destruction of all your Basic Liberties under 10 Years 
of New Labour". More info at http://www.noliberties.com/cinema.htm

        Saturdays 1pm - 3pm - NO2ID Edinburgh Campaign stall

NO2ID Edinburgh's regular Princes Street campaigning stall on Saturdays 
is 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 are planning to run the stall every 
Saturday throughout the year, weather permitting, and so new volunteers 
are always very welcome. You can see photos of our stall and group 
contact details at: www.no2id-scotland.net/edinburgh/

        Most Saturdays 2pm - NO2ID Glasgow Street Stall

Most Saturdays there are stalls in Glasgow city centre (usually Buchanan 
Street) from about 2pm. Volunteers are always welcome, please contact 
Geraint if you would like to help: glasgow at no2id.net.

        Saturdays 10am - 12pm - NO2ID Waltham Forest leafleting

The Waltham Forest NO2ID group will be going out every Saturday to the 
Walthamstow Town Square to leaflet from 10:00am -- 12:00 pm. Contact 
waltham.forest at no2id.net for more details

        24th June - Manchester NO2ID - Brown's Coronation

Sunday, 24th June 11am-2pm. There's going to be a large Stop The War 
Coalition rally in Manchester for Brown's coronation. It'd be good to be 
there with No2ID flyers and petition sheets, either at the coronation 
itself (which I presume will be in the Midland hotel) or at the demo. 
More details to be confirmed (see http://manchester.no2id.net/) but it 
is expected that the group will be meeting at 11am at St.Peter's Square 
metrolink stop would be best.

        25th June Edinburgh NO2ID meeting

Monday, 25 June at 7pm in the Library at the Quaker Meeting House, 7 
Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL. Buoyed by their appearance, albeit 
briefly, in the closing credits of the film "Taking Liberties", the 
Edinburgh Group will be planning to further their campaign against 
compulsory identity cards. All are welcome.  Please help with publicity 
whether you can come or not.

        26th June - Home Affairs Committee Inquiry: 'A Surveillance
        Society?' evidence session

Tuesday, 26th June at 10.15 a.m. Witnesses: 10.15 am - Professor Simon 
Wessely and Professor Carol Dezateux, Academy of Medical Sciences, and 
Dr Ian Forbes, Royal Academy of Engineering; 11.15 am - Dr Chris 
Pounder, Editor, Data Protection & Privacy Practice, Dr Eric Metcalfe, 
JUSTICE, and Shami Chakrabarti and Jago Russell, Liberty. Location 
(tbc): Wilson Room, Portcullis House. The session can be watched at 
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/

        26th June - Hackney NO2ID - 'Clarence Willcock Day', a
        celebration at the Hackney Empire

Tuesday, 26th June 9.30pm at Marie Lloyd Bar @ Hackney Empire, Mare St. 
E8. "Listen Up" -- a hip-hop, rap and poetry night will be hosted by 
Hackney & Shoreditch NO2ID to commemorate Clarence Willcock Day. The 
event is headlined by Horizontal Life, the thought provoking, soulful, 
9-piece hip-hop group from Oxford and with MC Shazia Mirza. The rest of 
the line-up has David Erdos, Kokumo Noxid, Tamsin Kayembe and The Leano, 
London's hip-hop Scratchclub host, giving it up for protection of our 
freedom, liberties and rights.

        26th June - Lancaster NO2ID - 'The Real Big Brother Britain'
        film screenings

Tuesday, 26th June, doors @ 7.30pm at Friends Meeting House, Lancaster. 
An evening of film screenings, including Suspect Nation, The Big Brother 
State and talks. This is a crossover event between NO2ID, RINF and 
Defy-ID. With several groups working in the area all  campaigning 
against ID cards and the database state, the evening will be both 
informative and empowering with a mix of views and solutions to the 
Orwellian nightmare that Great Britain has become.

        26th June - Glasgow NO2ID Meeting

Tuesday, 26th June, usual place, usual time: 8pm at Mono (Map: 
http://www.glasgow-no2id.org.uk/meeting.html) our fortnightly meeting, 
all welcome!

        27th June Swindon NO2ID meeting

Wednesday, 27th June 7.30pm at The George , Eastcott Hill. Swindon 
NO2ID's monthly pub meeting. You are very welcome to join us.

        28th June - Tonbridge/Tunbridge Wells NO2ID meeting

Thursday, 28th June in the bar of the Royal Wells Hotel, Mount Ephraim, 
Tunbridge Wells, TN4 8BE(see http://www.tunbridgewells-no2id.org.uk/). 
If we can get enough Tonbridge members we'll certainly alternate 
meetings between the two towns.

        30th June - Protest at Glasgow interrogation centre!

Saturday, 30 June at Blythswood House, 200 West Regent Street, Glasgow. 
 >From 11 am. For more info contact glasgow at no2id.net or see 
http://www.glasgow-no2id.org.uk/

        1st July - Kensington & Chelsea NO2ID street Stall

Sunday, 1st July 12pm-5pm, Kensington & Chelsea NO2ID will have a stall 
in the Earls Court street fair Kenway and Hogarth Roads, SW5. Contact 
kensington at no2id.net for more info. (See www.earlscourtfestival.org.uk 
for more details)

        2nd July - NO2ID Highbury July meeting

Monday, 2nd July 7pm The Alwyne pub - 83 St Pauls Road, N1 2LY. Nearest 
tube - Highbury & Islington. An informal meeting to discuss future 
events and a general update on NO2ID's campaign and other relevant 
developments.  All welcome.

        7th July - Tonbridge/Tunbridge Wells NO2ID stall

Saturday, 7th July in Tunbridge Wells at the pedestrian precinct, 
between Boots & The Body Shop,  outside The Royal Victoria Precinct. 
Just an hour or two volunteer effort makes a lot of difference & there's 
plenty of company - please email if you can 
help(tunbridge.wells at no2id.net). On the 17th in the face of fierce 
competition from rain and Morris Dancers we held a very successful and 
engaging first Tonbridge stall. Repeats will certainly be planned for 
Tonbridge in the near-term, and we look forward to welcoming new 
Tonbridge members, whether or not they can help with the stalls.

        7th July - Southwark NO2ID at Southwark Park - Tour de France

Saturday, 7th July 12 Noom to 10pm in Southwark Park. Confirmation has 
just been received that NO2ID has been allotted a stall at this well 
publicised event.  A condition of being accepted as a stall holder, is 
that the stall is continuously manned between noon and 10pm.  We want to 
ensure that we take the opportunity this event offers to collect as many 
signatures as possible for the NO2ID petition. Could anyone with an hour 
or two to spare on July 7th please contact Judith Hitchin at 
southwark at no2id.net advising her of the hours they could be available to 
assist on the stall.

        14th July - Manchester NO2ID Flyering

Saturday, 14th July, 1pm - 3pm at St. Anne's Square. We'll be running a 
Saturday afternoon stall in St. Anne's Square. The main objectives of 
the afternoon will be to raise awareness among the public, engage people 
in discussion about the NIR, and collect petitions for the NO2ID 
petition to keep people in touch with the campaign. We'll meet in the 
square itself at 1pm to set up shop; feel free to join us to lend a hand 
or just chat. You don't need any experience or equipment, just a bit of 
time to spare and a friendly smile!

        15th July - RISE Festival - NO2ID volunteers needed

Sunday, 15th July 12pm-8.30pm at Finsbury Park. Volunteers needed for 
the RISE festival an all day anti-racism music event...and its free.  If 
you are available that day and you fancy handing leaflets out to some 
fab music then please contact Caroline - highbury at no2id.net.  The food 
is great too!

        18th July - Manchester NO2ID Meeting

Wednesday, 18th July, 7.30pm - 9pm in the upstairs function room of the 
Town Hall Tavern, Tib Lane, Manchester. Sadly, this venue is not 
wheelchair-accessible, please contact us if you have accessibility 
needs. We will be discussing film nights, websites and other things of 
interest. Feel free to join us! (The Town Hall Tavern serves 
reasonably-priced, good quality food until 8pm so you don't need to pop 
home for tea - you can even order your meal brought up to the function 
room.)

        28th July - Manchester NO2ID at Taking Liberties Premiere

Thursday, 28th July. We will be flyering and taking petition signatures 
at the Cornerhouse Cinema, Oxford Road at the Manchester premiere of the 
new film "Taking Liberties".
------------------------------------------------------------------------

      What just happened?

        Cambridge NO2ID Meeting success

On Friday, 8th June NO2ID Cambridge held a very successful public 
meeting on ID cards at Parkside Community College. David Howarth MP told 
the meeting that the Government's stated purpose for ID cards changes 
all the time, but that the cards would do nothing to control either 
terrorism or illegal immigration. Ian Gibson MP debunked the Government 
line that identity cards would somehow be "voluntary", and expressed 
concerns about health data being accessible via the ID Card database in 
future. The well-attended meeting closed with a lively hour-long debate 
involving speakers and attendees, most of whom expressed determined 
opposition to government plans to track and control the population via 
ID cards.

        Home Office like railway companies as they try to rebrand the
        database state

This week Immigration Minister Liam Byrne MP used a Chatham House speech 
to take ID related government hyperbole to new heights. The speech 
entitled 'Securing Our Identity: A 21st Century Public Good' predicted 
that the "National Identity Scheme" will soon be occupying the same 
place in British hearts and minds as "the railways in the 19th century". 
Perhaps Mr Byrne is closer to the truth than it at first seems. Many 
pamphlets against the railways were written in the good old days, such 
as 'Railway Tyranny', a letter of appeal to the President of the Board 
of Trade published in 1885, which begins: "On behalf of very many Fellow 
Passengers, and with them, in the interest of the much-wronged General 
Public, I have to lay before your Honourable Board [...] a complaint of 
the many violations to the Law constantly perpetrated by the Railway 
Companies and their servants." Railway Tyranny is available online at 
http://tinyurl.com/2z2dgn and could be adapted to 'ID Card Tyranny' and 
sent to Byrne to prove how right he is.

        Data Sharing and the Serious Crime Bill

Last week(12th June) the Serious Crime bill received its second reading 
in an almost empty House of Commons. The commons also passed a 
guillotine motion that will means that scrutiny of the bill in committee 
must be completed by 12th July and set limits on the length of third 
reading debate. The bill has already passed through the House of Lords. 
The bill contains yet more new data sharing and data matching powers. 
Nick Herbert MP said: "The Bill [...] clears the way for a large-scale 
data-matching exercise, even though a Home Office consultation paper 
published last year acknowledged that many public bodies feared that 
such operations could be seen as fishing expeditions." Geoffrey Cox MP, 
who made a very powerful speech against the bill(3hrs 16mins into the 
video stream), said: "The Bill must be seen against the background of a 
Government who wish to introduce identity cards and ensure that the 
citizen must do the bidding of the state at appropriate times in his 
life so that his biological data can be recorded."
Watch the debate online at http://tinyurl.com/ysyshv

        Belgium's leaky ePassports

About 720,000 Belgian ePassports are wide open to data theft, university 
researchers have found. The passports can be freely read by anyone with 
a device sold in the shops. Belgium was one of the first countries to go 
biometric. Issued from 2004 to mid-2006, the first-generation ePassports 
apparently do not even comply with basic ICAO data security standards. 
This directly contradicts ministerial assurances given to the Belgian 
parliament this January. The passports also contain non-required 
sensitive data, including a scanned signature. Belgian passports issued 
since July 2006 are similar to British and German ePassports and have 
the same security flaws, the researchers say - but in the Belgian case, 
the passport numbering system makes it easier to guess the access code. 
In 2003, Belgium won an Interpol prize for its ePassports. And in 2004, 
James Sensenbrenner, Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary in the 
US House of Representatives, stated that Belgium is "probably going to 
be the best in all of Europe in terms of security of passports".
The Belgian research report and a video clip are online in English at 
http://www.dice.ucl.ac.be/crypto/passport/index.html

        eHealth: German dentists pull out

Germany's dentists have voted not to cooperate with  proposed new 
electronic healthcare entitlement cards in their present form. Doctors' 
associations had already rejected the cards. The threat to 
confidentiality is the main reason given. The doctors said there is no 
way of ensuring that centrally held electronic medical records would not 
be open to abuse by third parties. But the dentists also cite a recently 
leaked study by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton which shows that the 
scheme would produce very few cost savings and would not help medical 
practitioners. Some critics say the proposed IT structure is not up to 
the job and could lead to a breakdown in healthcare during a crisis - a 
flu epidemic, for instance.

        Fingerprint boycott call in Germany

German campaigners have called a boycott of fingerprinting for 
passports. Two fingerprints will be compulsory in German ePassports 
issued from 1 November, under legislation approved in mid-June. "Like 
criminals, citizens are being forced to provide their fingerprints to 
the State," says the Chaos Computer Club (CCC). And yet "the federal 
government has never given any meaningful explanation of why this 
complete biometric registration is needed". If even a small part of the 
population refuse to be fingerprinted, then "total surveillance can 
still be prevented".

        NZ probes eHealth consent

New Zealand is launching research into public attitudes to the sharing 
of information held in electronic health records. The study will also 
assist policy-makers by identifying the requirements for an electronic 
consent system that would allow patients to specify who can access the 
information

        US Homeland Insecurity

The hackability of databases at the US Department of Homeland Security 
was probed by a House of Representatives subcommittee this week(20 
June). Amongst other things, Homeland Security stores the ID data of 
airline passengers from EU countries. The committee heard that the U.S. 
Department of Homeland Security has experienced about 800 security 
breaches, many in the form of computer hacking. A webcast of the meeting 
can be viewed at http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/homeland/chs/cyberjune.wvx
------------------------------------------------------------------------

      "ID" in the news

        Byrne explains the UK's wondrous, biometric, ID card future -
        The Register 20/6/07

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne this week unveiled - to a certain amount 
of derision - his vision of the ID Card scheme. More disturbingly, 
however, Byrne rattled off a series of areas where the scheme's 
pervasiveness seems most likely to be achieved at gunpoint and/or via 
deals stitched up with private sector stakeholders, and added happily 
(in an answer intended to deny allegations of function-creep) that "the 
more you look at identity technology, the more uses you see."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/20/byrne_chatham_house_speech/

        Iraqis risk jail time by carrying vital fake IDs - Santa Barbara
        News Press 20/6/07

As 16-year-old Muhammad Ali Ibrihim makes his way to school, he carries 
two ID cards. One is real, and reveals through his tribal name that he's 
a Shiite Muslim. The other is bogus, a forgery that describes him as 
Umar Ahmed Muhammad, a moniker that labels him a Sunni Muslim. He 
flashes that card at checkpoints manned by outfits tied to al-Qaida and 
others that are hostile to the Shiite-dominated government. Without 
both, he couldn't navigate the obstacles between his home in Baghdad's 
Khadhimiya neighborhood and his school in the Mansour district of the 
Iraqi capital.
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565037209012797703

        Half of Europeans show support for ID cards - IT Pro 20/6/07

However, study shows many people still undecided about biometrics due to 
privacy and information security concerns. Over half of the 500 
respondents from the pan-European study said they would voluntarily join 
a government biometric identity registration scheme, while 30 per cent 
were undecided.
http://tinyurl.com/33vodw

        Union makes airport chaos claim - BBC News Online 20/6/07

New passport checks have doubled processing times and will cause chaos 
this summer, a trade union says. Officials are taking up to 10 seconds 
where before they needed just three or four seconds to check passports, 
the Immigration Service Union has said. Laser devices which read 
biometric passports are among the causes of the extra delays, the union 
claims.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6220702.stm

        Biometrics Fly at Heathrow - Business Week 20/6/07

The London airport's trial of a security system involving fingerprint 
and iris scans scores an 81% traveler approval rating. The miSense trial 
was aimed at testing the feasibility of advanced passenger screening in 
the UK, which would allow the traveller's details to be checked against 
various intelligence and immigration databases and 'watch lists' before 
being allowed to board a flight.
http://tinyurl.com/ys25t

        NHS IT: GPs criticise Choose and Book system - Computer Weekly
        20/6/07

A GPs' conference has criticised the Choose and Book system for the 
electronic booking of hospital appointments, part of the National 
Programme for IT in the NHS. A motion at the conference of Local Medical 
Committees, part of the BMA, described Choose and Book, implemented by 
the government NHS IT agency Connecting for Health, as "a politically 
driven initiative" which "gave the illusion of meeting targets and 
reducing NHS deficits".
http://tinyurl.com/2fsplf

        330,000 users to have access to database on England's children -
        The Guardian 18/6/07

A giant electronic database containing sensitive information on all 11 
million children in England will be open to at least 330,000 users when 
it launches next year, according to government guidance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2105187,00.html

        Fingerprinting and eye scans for children as young as five - The
        Independent 17/6/07

Schools are to get the go-ahead to fingerprint pupils as young as five, 
in new measures to be approved by the Government. Ministers will issue 
guidance telling schools they have the right to collect biometric data 
and install fingerprint scanners.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2666405.ece

        Cost of help for Britons in trouble abroad lifts passport price
        to £72 - The Times Online 16/6/07

The cost of a UK passport is to rise for the third time in less than two 
years to £72, the Government announced yesterday. The increase means 
that the projected price of the planned identity card will be more than 
£100.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1940204.ece

(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 
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NO2ID, Box 412, 19-21 Crawford Street, LONDON W1H 1PJ

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