NO2ID News No. 99
5 June 2008
++ RAISE AWARENESS OF THE ID SCHEME ++
It may be surprising to those of us campaigning against the ID scheme
but large numbers of the public are still not aware that there is an ID
scheme at all. Even those that are aware may be confused after various
false alarms in the media that have led them to believe that the scheme
has been dropped. We need to raise awareness and ensure that people
know that the illiberal scheme is very much going ahead.
There are lots of things you can do to tell others about the ID scheme
and about NO2ID. Sign the NO2ID pledge[1] and display it so that others
can see it and talk about it. Display a NO2ID window-sticker on your
car or house (we'll send you stickers if you send us a request with a
self-addressed business envelope, and if possible a donation to help us
cover our costs[2]). If you know key workers such as airport staff (who
are going to be co-erced into the ID database and issued an ID card
first) then encourage them to get involved with their union to see what
they are doing to fight the scheme. If you haven't already, get
involved with a local group and help out running street stalls and
talking to the public about the scheme.
The more that people know about the scheme the less they are in favour
of it - so let's spread the word.
Notes:
[1]
http://www.no2id.net/pledge/
The NO2ID Pledge - a way for people to personally and publicly declare
that they will refuse to comply with the government's ID scheme. The
pledge is an act of *pre-emptive* resistance and is, as such, entirely
legal.
[2] Our address is NO2ID, Box 412, 19-21 Crawford Street, LONDON W1H 1PJ
++ STOP PRESS ++
+ Home Affairs Committee A Surveillance Society? Report to be
published +
The Home Affairs Committee will publish its report 'A Surveillance
Society?' on Sunday (Fifth Report, Session 2007-08, HC 58). Embargoed
copies of the Report will be available electronically to government
departments and witnesses today.
What's next?
+ Request for technical volunteers +
We are seeking experienced PHP developers with proven Drupal
experience. Vi over Emacs; experience with RCS/CVS/SVN exceptionally
useful. If you're interested, please provide a couple of URIs and a
LinkedIn profile to
technical.director@no2id.net
(plain text emails
only, cheers).
5th July – NO2ID at Open Tech
Saturday, 5th July at ULU, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HY. NO2ID will
be running a couple of sessions at this event which is an informal
one-day conference on technology, society and low-carbon living. Doors
open at 10am; the event starts at 10.30am. Tickets are £5 on the door.
See
http://www.ukuug.org/events/opentech2008
+ LOCAL GROUPS NEWS +
We now have local groups in 44 of the 69 proposed locations for
interrogation centres - of which just 3 have yet to open. Parliamentary
answers indicate that the most active centres are: Belfast, Birmingham,
Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Newport,
Peterborough and Sheffield.
For information on your nearest interrogation centre, see
www.no2id.net/getInvolved/idCentres.php.
If you can help set up a local
group in one of the remaining locations, or anywhere else in the UK,
please contact Matty on
local.groups@no2id.net
+ Bradford +
11th June – Bradford NO2ID Meeting (2nd Wednesday of every month)
Wednesday, 11th June at Bradford Resource Centre, 17-21 Chapel Street,
Bradford BD1 5DT.
+ Cambridge +
7th June - NO2ID Stall at Cambridge Strawberry Fair
Saturday 7th June, volunteers needed to man the stall for 2 hour shifts
from 10am until 6pm: please contact
cambridge@no2id.net, or
text/call
Andrew Watson on 07710 469624. We signed up 700 supporters last year -
we'd like to improve on that number this year. (Strawberry Fair info:
http://www.strawberry-fair.org.uk)
21st June - NO2ID Cambridge Stall
Saturday, 21st June at 10am in the usual spot outside Cambridge
Guildhall. Location Map:
http://tinyurl.com/eo42r. As ever,
volunteers
to help very welcome - please email
cambridge@no2id.net, or
text/call
Andrew on 07710 469624 if you can make it.
+ Camden & Islington +
21st June - Camden & Islington NO2ID Street Stall
Saturday, 21st June 1pm-4pm in Crouch End, opposite the clock tower.
Any helpers welcome.
7th July - Camden & Islington NO2ID Meeting
Monday, 7th July 8pm at The Castle, 54 Pentonville Road. We cover our
table with NO2ID flyers. Any enquiries
camden@no2id.net
+ Canterbury +
14th June - Canterbury NO2ID Street Stall
Saturday 14th June - Next Canterbury NO2ID High St Stall. Please get in
touch if you are happy to help out (
canterbury@no2id.net).
22nd June - 'Taking Liberties' Film Showing
Sunday, 22nd June at Orange Street Music Club, Orange St, Canterbury.
Doors at 7pm, showing starts at 8.30pm. Music before and afterwards.
Entry free. Please spread the word!
There is talk of organising a day-time weekend NO2ID picnic somewhere
in the green areas of Canterbury city centre over the summer. If
you're interested in getting involved with this, or any event, please
e-mail
canterbury@no2id.net.
+ Deptford +
7th June - Deptford NO2ID Street Stall
Saturday, 7th June from 10.30 on Deptford High St, outside Deptford
rail station. We had a stall on 24th May at the same location and most
market goers were positive to the NO2ID cause.
+ Edinburgh +
+Edinburgh News+
Last month (22nd May) NO2ID Edinburgh's coordinator John Welford had
the guest spot on the local radio station Talk 107. He was able to
present a comprehensive picture of our campaign issues, including the
highly controversial Scottish "bus pass" and was on air for around
thirty minutes. The two interviewers were friendly and sympathetic and
seemed keen to give a repeated plug for our weekly Princes Street
campaign stall! Members at the last Edinburgh group meeting (27th May)
heard a reprise of part of the presentations at the recent briefing
meeting for MSPs. Local authorities are pushing multi-purpose
entitlement cards for local services at sections of the public under
the guise of improving IT efficiency and in this they are supported by
the government. At the same time the Scottish Parliament has voted
decisively against the use of ID cards for devolved services. The
group's aim is to give maximum publicity to this inconsistency. [See
"ID in the News" section below for developments re the bus pass and the
Scottish Parliament - Ed]
Saturdays 1pm - 3pm - NO2ID Edinburgh street stall
Every week, weather permitting, you will find our campaigning stall at
the east end of Princes Street, opposite the Balmoral Hotel. Do drop
by for a chat. New volunteers - please contact
John(
edinburgh@no2id.net), and for
more group information see
http://www.no2id-scotland.net/edinburgh/
+ Glasgow +
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@no2id.net
17th June – Glasgow NO2ID Summer Activities Planning Meeting
Tuesday, 17th June, 8pm in Mono. All welcome!
+ Oxford +
5th June - NO2ID Oxford Meeting (1st Thursday of each month)
Thursday, 5th June 8pm in the Mitre pub on the High Street. All welcome.
7th June - NO2ID Oxford Street Stall
Saturday, 7th June from 10am at Manzil Way on the Cowley Rd. Hope you
can make it along! More details on the website:
http://no2id-oxford.org.uk/
+ Selby +
14th June - Selby NO2ID Street Stall
Saturday, 14th June 10.45 - 14.00 in Parliament Street, York. All
welcome.
17th June - Selby NO2ID Meeting
Tuesday, 17th June 8pm at The Blue Bell public house Monk Fryston.
+ Southampton +
2nd July - Southampton NO2ID Meeting (the first Wednesday of every
month)
Wednesday 2nd July, The Dolphin pub, Osbourne Road South, Southampton
(next to St Denys railway station), 8pm. All welcome.
What just happened?
+ Local councils begin data-sharing projects +
Just as many local councils around the country are passing motions
against ID cards, we now find that many of them are starting to
introduce data sharing initiatives. For instance in Dorset they have an
information sharing protocol that allows data to be passed between the
county's public sector bodies including the police, fire service,
education chiefs, social workers and housing staff, and Sunderland City
Council has installed Cyber-Ark's Inter-Business Vault to "tackle crime
and anti-social behaviour". The data sharing schemes have been set up
under the Information Sharing and Assessment (ISA) initiative (formally
IRT - Identification, Referral and Tracking). The data sharing is being
sold as a way of protecting vulnerable members of society such as
children but in reality it is about removing the right of individuals
to control the way their personal data is used and the abolition of
privacy.
+ Birmingham City Council leader speaks out against
'Transformational Government' project +
Glyn Evans, head of Birmingham City Council’s Transformational
Government programme has said he is "frustrated" by the time it is
taking for benefits to come out of the programme. Evans told Computer
Weekly: "We have got to move away from the central government view that
it is all about efficiency savings and shared services. It has got to
be more than that". Birmingham City Council has the largest local
authority 'Transformational Government' project in the UK - they signed
a 10-year deal with Capita in March 2006.
+ ID suppliers ill informed about ID scheme +
The european boss of Fujitsu, one of the contractors to the National
Identity Scheme, has said that he isn't worried about the scheme being
cancelled if the Conservative party wins the next election. The reasons
cited by Richard Christou were that the ID scheme is just one of the
contracts, noting for instance that the European Union has mandated the
use of biometrics in passports. Of course what Christou should know is
that the UK is not a member of the EU's Schengen border-controls
agreement and so is not part of the EU biometric passport programme. Of
course this hasn't stopped ministers claiming that we are bound by EU
regulations on this or even claiming that the ICAO (International Civil
Aviation Organisation) requires biometrics - which it does not.
+ University academics pass anti-ID motion +
Cambridge academics have led Britain's largest academic trade union in
opposing the government's ID cards scheme. The Cambridge branch of the
University and College Union (UCU) proposed a motion condemning the
widely-criticised plans at the annual congress in Manchester on
Wednesday 28th May. Representatives of the 120,000-strong union
accepted the Cambridge proposal, voting unanimously to oppose ID cards
plans and affiliate to NO2ID. Dr Toby White, a NO2ID activist and UCU
member who helped organise the motion by the Cambridge branch, said:
"UCU delegates from several other universities spoke strongly in
support of our motion, which was passed with overwhelming support."
See: http://www.ucu.org.uk/circ/html/ucu104.html
+ UK signs up to EU-wide ID pilot +
A pilot project for cross-border electronic identity recognition has
been officially unveiled by the European Commission. And although the
scheme is in no way mandatory at this stage, the British government is
among the first 14 to sign up. Announced on 30th May, the project will
"run for three years and receive €10 million (over £7.9m) funding from
the European Commission and an equal contribution from the
participating partners". The aim is to "enable EU citizens to prove
their identity and use national electronic identity systems (passwords,
ID cards, PIN codes and others) throughout the EU". The scheme will
"align and link" national systems rather than replacing them. Function
creep seems to be part of the agenda. As the Commission emphasises,
"throughout the EU, some 30 million national eID cards are used by
citizens to access a variety of public services such as claiming social
security and unemployment benefits or filing tax returns". Through "its
size and momentum", the project will "overrun traditional barriers and
encourage the mutual acceptance of other countries' electronic
identities ". The project is officially known as Project STORK, which
obviously stands for Secure idenTity acrOss boRders linKed.
For more info see: http://tinyurl.com/54gyll
+ German anti-surveillance protests - Europe-wide soon? +
Thousands of people across Germany demonstrated against the
surveillance state on 31st May. It was the latest in a series of
protests under the slogan "Freedom Not Fear". Telecommunications data
retention is currently the hot topic in Germany, but the demonstrators
also took in other surveillance issues. The organisers want to spread
the protests across Europe from September onwards. They are currently
translating their wiki into English and are looking for help with this:
http://wiki.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/Main_page
+ Their pigeon (and nobody else's) +
A group of Dutch artists is training carrier pigeons to transport data
files. They say it's the only secure form of data transfer left.
"ID" in the news
+ A quarter of UK adults to go on child protection database - The
Register 4/6/08 +
From next year, all those who wish to work, either paid or unpaid,
with
children or vulnerable adults will need to be vetted. Those who fail
the vetting will be barred from obtaining such work. Individuals who
seek to work in these areas, knowing that they have been barred, will
be committing a criminal offence.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/04/government_database_volunteers/
+ Nursery fingerprinting criticised - The Press Association 3/6/08 +
Fingerprint scanning technology which was fully introduced to control
entry at two nurseries has been criticised by a children's rights
group. "By introducing this in nurseries, we are also normalising
fingerprint scanning. Children are growing up thinking it is perfectly
normal to throw your biometrics about."
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gNQJQvkGbL0PuWYrjOiyOWJkmrmQ
+ Government picks 3M to print initial biometric identity cards -
PrintWeek 29/5/08 +
3M's security printing arm has been appointed by the government as the
production partner in the first phase of its ID cards scheme.
http://tinyurl.com/5c459y
+ Interview with UK´s IPS - Identity Loop 27/5/08 +
With five suppliers – all those still left in the procurement race –
having been chosen to work with the Identity and Passport Service (IPS)
to deliver the UK’s National Identity Scheme (NIS), and 3M-SPSL being
awarded a contract to produce ID cards for critical workers, Identity
Loop posed some pressing questions to Bill Crothers, Commercial
Executive Director at IPS.
http://www.identityloop.com/interviews/i/302/
+ Campaigners taste victory in ‘backdoor ID cards’ battle - Sunday
Herald 25/5/08 +
Civil liberties campaigners have won a review of Scotland's
controversial microchipped entitlement card scheme. Ministers are to
scrutinise the project amid fears that it is a "back door" to
compulsory ID cards. Around one-third of Scots now have the plastic
swipe cards, which are backed by a database and far-reaching
legislation. Opponents insist that, while the programme may appear
harmless, it is almost identical to the Home Office's plans for a
National Identity Register.
http://tinyurl.com/5d87up
+ Five survive the cut as doubts grow about Government's ID card
scheme - The Times 24/5/08 +
The credibility of the Government's tendering process for its £2
billion biometric identity card scheme was cast into doubt yesterday
after all the remaining companies interested in the scheme's IT
contracts advanced to a shortlist of qualified bidders.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article3994588.ece
+ A picture of something chillingly Orwellian - The Herald 22/5/08 +
Imagine a world where the government knows where you are all the time.
Imagine a world where a man you've never met knows you are about to get
married before your beloved has even popped the question. Imagine a
world where you can be refused a mortgage or life insurance because
someone has mislaid or sold your personal detail. This week we hear
that in drawing up the forthcoming Communications Data Bill, Home
Office officials are seriously suggesting a database holding details of
every phone call made and e-mail or text message sent in the UK.
http://tinyurl.com/5hw63p
+ UK ID card set up costs to rise - Securiry Document World - 8/5/08
+
The UK’s Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has said that the while
the set up costs associated with the introduction of the national
identity card scheme have risen, the total costs over a ten year period
have fallen from £5.43 billion to £4.565 billion.
http://www.securitydocumentworld.com/public/news.cfm?&m1=c_10&m2=c_5&m3=e_0&m4=e_0&subItemID=1320
+ Private sector saviours wanted for desperate ID scheme - The
Register 7/5/08 +
Plans for the widespread introduction of fingerprint passports and ID
cards, already delayed until 2012, have receded further into the
distance with the publication of the latest Identity & Passport
Service cost report for the ID scheme. This effectively pulls the plugs
on the network of IPS-run interview centres, and lobs future
responsibility for these and for biometric enrolment over to private
sector companies.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/07/id_scheme_2008_costs/
(Please send me any items of interest you encounter - Editor(
newsletter@no2id.net)
)
Publication details: © NO2ID 2010 - 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.
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