16 August 2013 — NO2ID
Edited by Daryl Worthington and James Baker
++’NOTHING TO HIDE’ CLAIM A NONSENSE OVER SNOWDEN REVELATIONS++
By James Baker
Tag: NO2ID
NO2ID Newsletter (2nd Series) No. 9 – 6th June 2013
7 June 2013 — NO2ID
Edited by Daryl Worthington
++ NEW THREAT TO MEDICAL PRIVACY by James Baker
NO2ID Newsletter (Second series) No.4 – March 15th: GOVERNMENT FACES WRONG WAY ON PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE
16 March 2012
GOVERNMENT FACES WRONG WAY ON PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE
The coalition government has talked a good deal about civil liberties, but what has it done?
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter (Second series) No.1
10 June 2011 — NO2ID
NEW THREAT TO MEDICAL PRIVACY
During all the controversy about government NHS reforms (which in general NO2ID can have no view on), one question has gone almost unnoticed. What is happening to personal medical information?
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 166 – 20th January 2011: SCOTLAND’S BACK-DOOR ID CARD BATTLE
20 January, 2011 — NO2ID
SCOTLAND’S BACK-DOOR ID CARD BATTLE
Among the most dedicated opponents of the Blair government’s Identity Cards Act were the SNP. However, as the government of Scotland they seem to have other ideas, as Geraint Bevan, coordinator of NO2ID Scotland, explains:
UK ID cards are no longer valid, but National Entitlement Cards (ID cards by another name) continue to be issued in Scotland. These multi-purpose cards, which masquerade under a wide range of guises including concessionary travel and YoungScot cards, are issued by local authorities and provide access to various services.
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 159 – 11th October 2010
+ DOUBLE BILL +
As the rest of the Newsletter shows, the database state is still far from dead. But the fight against it needs a new strategy to deal with the new situation. We have been taking advantage of the honeymoon period of the coalition to try and formulate the way forward, and are starting to produce new leaflets and materials to explain to the general public why our fight is not over. There are two events coming up in this “relaunch”.
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 158 – 23rd September 2010: Identity Documents Bill passes 3rd Reading
26 September, 2010
GETTING BENEATH THE SURFACE
Challenging the authoritarian thinking behind the ID scheme was always going to be much tougher than defeating ID cards. Repealing the Identity Cards Act is essential, but has not killed the database state. We are still seeing ‘new’ bureaucratic project that simply re-package the same mass-surveillance concepts.
Just this week, there was publicity about an academic research project, “INDECT”, that proposes the “continuous and automatic monitoring” of public resources – web sites, discussion forums, peer-to-peer networks and even individual computers. It has obtained an EU grant.
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 157 – 9th September 2010
THE LAST OF THE ID SCHEME?
Next week the Identity Documents Bill, the legislation that is said to scrap ID cards, begins its last parliamentary lap with its final stages in the House of Commons on 15th September. So by the end of the month we should see most of the Identity Cards Act repealed.
NO2ID will be organising a celebration. “Well begun is half done,” according to the proverb. But it is important to remember that although the legislation does get rid of the National Identity Register, it is only a good beginning, since the government has yet to take on board all of NO2ID’s criticisms.
There are few amendments tabled, and they would not improve the Bill from our point of view. There is still too much data-sharing allowed. The new definition of an “identity document” still bundles into law a badly thought-out conception of official identity, that Britons have managed without for hundreds of years.
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 154 – 29th July 2010
29 July, 2010 — NO2ID
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Parliament is in recess, so now is a good time to take stock of the coalition’s few weeks in office. Has the database state rolled back?
The Identity Documents Bill – which will repeal the Identity Cards Act – is still in the Commons. Some improvements have been made, but the threat of officially registered identity, a ‘shadow Register’, remains. And much of the infrastructure is still being built on other Home Office pretexts. How many ID-scheme contracts will the Coalition terminate?
It *has* just sacked the lead contractor of the e-Borders programme, shutting down development temporarily. We are delighted to report that ContactPoint will end at noon on August 6th, with all data to be deleted safely.
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 153 – 15th July 2010: Unfinished Business
+ UNFINISHED BUSINESS +
The Identity Documents Bill – the legislation to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006 – will shortly move to ‘Report and Third Reading’ in the House of Commons.
For those of you who haven’t followed the progress of the various Bills that NO2ID has fought over the past 6 years, this means that the draft legislation has been considered by a cross-party Committee of MPs and will be voted on one more time by the whole House of Commons before being sent to the House of Lords.
Unfortunately, though NO2ID identified some serious problems with the Bill as originally drafted – by the Home Office – and has briefed MPs and members of the government on those problems, they have NOT yet been fixed.
Those who are interested in the detail may wish to read our briefing [1] but, put bluntly, the Bill as currently drafted will create a shadow of the National Identity Register (not an actual Register, but the essence of one) in relation to every ‘identity document’ in circulation – a list of information that potentially must, under criminal penalties, be kept in line with an official truth.
We clearly don’t want this, and will continue to work on getting the Bill fixed.
There is a great danger that the Coalition’s first piece of legislation will fail to achieve its stated objectives, were the Act supposed to dismantle the National Identity Scheme to end up preserving some of the more malign features of the Scheme.
Were the Identity Documents Bill to pass in its current form, rather than the complete victory on ‘ID cards’ that everyone seems to be assuming, we fear we shall be left with serious unfinished business.
Continue reading
NO2ID Supporters’ Newsletter No. 152 – 1st July 2010
1 July, 2010 — NO2ID
+ NOT SCRAPPED ENOUGH +
“NO2ID – aren’t you shutting up shop now? You’ve won” is a question some are asking. But associating the campaign solely with the ID **card** – as iconic as that battle has been – rather misses the point.
NO2ID’s goal was never *just* to stop the ID card – it was, and is, to stop the creation of the database behind it – and any equivalent national registers used to manage the population, what we named the database state. The abolition of ID cards may be a significant victory, but the war is far from over.
We appreciate that many people joined and support NO2ID because of our campaign against the ID card. Those who know us and who fight with us will realise we’ve been campaigning consistently on numerous other fronts. The database state is still growing. It still touches many different aspects of your life.
From medical confidentiality and the right to opt out of the Summary Care Record to the unlawful retention of innocent people’s profiles on the DNA database; from snooping on communications data (your phone, e-mail and browsing records) to rampant government sponsored data trafficking, such as was proposed in Clause 152 of the Coroners & Justice Bill; from highlighting the dangers of population registers and systems like Contactpoint to pressing for more meaningful control over our own personal information – NO2ID must go on.
Should you find yourself having to ‘justify’ the continued existence of NO2ID to friends or colleagues, you might like a copy of our latest information sheet. You can download it here:
www.no2id.net/downloads/Not_scrapped_enough.pdf
The ID scheme is not dead yet. We’re working hard to ensure that it is scrapped comprehensively – and that the Identity Documents Bill (the ID-scrapping legislation currently before Parliament) doesn’t re-enact some of the very same problems we’ve been fighting these past six years.
We couldn’t have done it without you. And your support will be more important than ever, as we move into Phase II.
(To be continued…)
NO2ID Newsletter 14 April, 2010: Election special – promise to protect privacy
Dear supporter,
In previous newsletters we asked you to write letters to your local paper, and make your concerns about the database state known to your local candidates. If you haven’t already done so – or even if you have – there’s an ideal opportunity to take action right now.
This week, POWER2010 are focussing on privacy and government abuse of our personal information. They have set up a simple tool on their website which allows you to e-mail a customiseable letter directly to each of the parliamentary candidates in your constituency:
http://www.power2010.org.uk/privacy
After you have sent your letter to the candidates, you can also add your name to a letter that will be sent to the local papers in your area next week. We strongly urge you to do so. Candidates across the country will be asked to promise that if elected they will vote to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006, and to defend our privacy – and that of our children – as fiercely as they defend their own.
(If you wish, you can also use the tool to pass the link on to friends.)
Please take the time *today* to send a letter to each of your candidates, and to your local papers, using the link above.
POWER2010 provide a sample letter, calling on candidates to promise to end the “one rule for us, one for them” we’ve seen from this parliament on privacy and identity issues, but the message will be even stronger if you edit it or write your own reasons why they should publicly promise to protect our privacy before the election.
Thank you and best wishes,
Phil Booth National Coordinator, NO2ID
—
POWER2010 is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. For more information, see: http://www.power2010.org.uk/about/about-power-2010
NO2ID Newsletter 14 April, 2010: Election special – promise to protect privacy
Dear supporter,
In previous newsletters we asked you to write letters to your local paper, and make your concerns about the database state known to your local candidates. If you haven’t already done so – or even if you have – there’s an ideal opportunity to take action right now.
This week, POWER2010 are focussing on privacy and government abuse of our personal information. They have set up a simple tool on their website which allows you to e-mail a customiseable letter directly to each of the parliamentary candidates in your constituency:
http://www.power2010.org.uk/privacy
After you have sent your letter to the candidates, you can also add your name to a letter that will be sent to the local papers in your area next week. We strongly urge you to do so. Candidates across the country will be asked to promise that if elected they will vote to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006, and to defend our privacy – and that of our children – as fiercely as they defend their own.
(If you wish, you can also use the tool to pass the link on to friends.)
Please take the time *today* to send a letter to each of your candidates, and to your local papers, using the link above.
POWER2010 provide a sample letter, calling on candidates to promise to end the “one rule for us, one for them” we’ve seen from this parliament on privacy and identity issues, but the message will be even stronger if you edit it or write your own reasons why they should publicly promise to protect our privacy before the election.
Thank you and best wishes,
Phil Booth National Coordinator, NO2ID
—
POWER2010 is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. For more information, see: http://www.power2010.org.uk/about/about-power-2010
Video: Liberty – Protecting Civil Liberties Promoting Human Rights: Where do they go?
29 July, 2009
Over the last few years the Government has mislaid a staggering amount of our personal information. In this clever short film, Liberty asks whether they can be trusted with even more data. Narrated by Liberty supporter Simon Callow and made voluntarily for Liberty by professional film-maker Will MacNeil, with post-production by Unit, the film underlines the danger of creating such a massive database.
http://widgets.vodpod.com/w/video_embed/Groupvideo.3084817
more about “Liberty – Protecting Civil Liberties …“, posted with vodpod
Take Jane
Fans of ID cards often say, if you’ve done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. They are naive.
For more information, and to find out what YOU can do to help stop the database state, visit:
The New Dark Age 