NO2ID News No. 55
28 September 2006
NO2ID Supporters' Newsletter No. 55 - 28th September 2006
Contacting us: Call or email the office - 020-7793-4005 or
(office@no2id.net).
ID CARDS - YOU HAVE TO LAUGH...
The fight against ID cards will take a funny turn on Sunday night (1st
October). A top-notch line up of comedians will take part in a comedy
fund raising gig at the Hackney Empire in London. The show 'Who do you
think you are?' will raise much needed funds for the NO2ID campaign.
Tickets cost just £12.50 so order one now - or better still order two.
The evening will be compered by Perrier award winner Daniel Kitson and
headlined by Dara O'Briain (host of BBC's Mock the week and Have I got
News For You). Also on the bill are Paul Sinha (Perrier/Edy nominee 2006),
Josie Long (Perrier/Edy best newcomer 2006), Kevin Eldon, Wil Hodgson
(Perrier best newcomer 2004), Gary Le Strange (Perrier best newcomer
2003), Andrew O'Neill, Ben Norris and Lucy Porter. Please come along
and pass details of the event on to all of your friends - we need your
help to make it a sell-out success. We also need people to help out on
the night (sorry no free ticket), contact office@no2id.net
to volunteer.
Hackney Empire Box Office 020 8985 2424 or book online at
www.hackneyempire.co.uk,
Tickets £12.50
Hurry - Last chance to renew your passport before price hike
On October 5th, the price of an adult passport will rise again -
from £51 to £66. The price of a passport has increased 57% in 10 months
- and doubled since October 2003. The price hikes are being
driven by the ID cards scheme. This is unlikely to be the last. In addition
from next year children over 16 applying for their first adult passport
will be forced to attend an interview at one of 69 new UKIPS (UK
Identity and Passport Service) interrogation centres. If you have not
renewed your passport yet then it makes sense to do it now and buy
yourself 10 years' freedom from untold bureaucracy,
punitive charges, and invasion of privacy (not to mention IT and
administrative failures) as the government merges our passports with its
catastrophic ID scheme. Several supporters have told us that the jumbo
size passports have not been available for a few months and that none
are expected for at least 6 months. No official announcement of this
has been made.
See www.renewforfreedom.org
What's next?
Guardian Ad campaign materials
Following on from our full page advert in Monday's Guardian (featuring
Tony Blair with a strategically placed barcode moustache - see
http://tinyurl.co.uk/ug0w)
we have large stock of postcards of the Ad,
and various items of media for use in publicity stunts with street
furniture, encapsulating the theme: "Tell them you're not a number". Get in touch with the office if you would like to find out about these.
Scottish Borders Supporters Appeal
Any supporters near Galashiels or Dumfries who would be interested in
joining a new local group are asked to contact Geraint
(scotland@no2id.net).
Local Green MSP Mark Ballard has challenged NO2ID
to set up groups in these areas where there will be new passport
interrogation centres opening, and it is a challenge that we would very
much like to meet. See (http://tinyurl.com/glkqs)
Party conference season - Volunteers required
We need volunteers to help at the forthcoming party conferences in
Bournemouth (Conservative 1st-4th Oct) and in Hove (Green 21st-24th
Sept). We
also intend to cover Telford(UKIP 7th-8th October) and Perth (Scottish
National Party 11th-14th Oct). Presence is
important. Even a couple hours handing out leaflets to delegates is
well worth while. Contact
us at office@no2id.net if you can spare
some time.
1st Tuesday of the month - Hackney NO2ID monthly meetings
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 oner
the coming months.
NO2ID Cambridge Campaign stall & student volunteers
Cambridge NO2ID will be running Saturday street stalls outside
Cambridge Guildhall from 10am to noon on 14th October,
and every third Saturday into the new year. Location:
(http://tinyurl.com/eo42r).
Volunteers to help very welcome - contact
Andrew Watson via cambridge@no2id.net, or on 07710
469624. We will also
have a presence at Cambridge University Student Union's Societies Fair
in Cambridge's Kelsey Kerridge Sports Hall on October 3rd and 4th. If
you're studying at the university and would like to help publicise
NO2ID to your fellow students, please contact cambridge@no2id.net
as
soon as possible. (http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/societies/fair/)
Saturdays 1pm - 3pm - NO2ID Edinburgh Campaign stall
After a short break during the Edinburgh Festival 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 this coming Saturday. 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 shall be aiming to have the stall up and
running most Saturdays, and new volunteers are always very welcome. You
can see photos of our stall and contact details at:
www.no2id-scotland.net/edinburgh/.
1st October - NO2ID Comedy Fundraiser gig - "Who do you think you
are?" at the Hackney Empire
Sunday, 1st October, Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London, E8 1EJ.
Doors 7.30 pm. Featuring Dara O'Briain (Host of Mock the Week and Have
I got News For You), Paul Sinha (Perrier nominee 2006), Josie Long
(Perrier best newcomer 2006), Kevin Eldon, Wil Hodgson (Perrier best
newcomer 2004), Gary Le Strange (Perrier best newcomer 2003), Andrew
O'Neill, Ben Norris, Lucy Porter, with MC Daniel Kitson (Perrir winner
2002). All proceeds will go
to NO2ID.
Box Office 020 8985 2424 or book online at
www.hackneyempire.co.uk,
Tickets £12.50
3rd October - NO2ID Glasgow Meeting
Tuesday, 3rd October at 7:30pm in Mono. Alternative arrangements: If
for any reason Mono is not suitable then we will instead go to Laurie's
across the road. Everyone is very welcome to attend. Map:
http://www.glasgow-no2id.org.uk/meeting.html
4th October - Manchester NO2ID Flyering
Wednesday, 4th October 5:30pm - 6:30pm at Piccadilly Station.
Manchester NO2ID will be taking their fortnightly flyering campaign
back to Piccadilly Station, to raise awareness of the National Identity
Register among Manchester commuters. This is a great way to spend an
hour meeting other NO2ID supporters, as well as doing something
positive for the campaign and still being home in time for tea. Meet at
the bottom of Piccadilly Station approach. You won't need to bring
anything other than your hands and a smile!
5th October NO2ID Brighton public meeting, "Liberty on the ropes" -
your chance to join the debate
Thursday October 5th, 6pm at the Lecture Theatre Arts A2, University of
Sussex, Falmer, Brighton. ID cards, deportations, detention without
trial... have our civil liberties taken too many blows? Guest speakers:
David Shayler (former MI5 agent), Phil Booth (NO2ID national
co-ordinator), Plus speakers from Amnesty International and Liberty.
Chaired by Dr Andrew Chitty (lecturer in Philosophy at the University
of Sussex), Introduced by Dan Glass (President, University of Sussex
Students Union). Public meeting: all welcome. For more details, email
brighton@no2id.net
7th October - Hebden Bridge Day of ID Register Opposition
Saturday, 7th October, 1pm - 3pm. Manchester NO2ID will be visiting
Hebden Bridge in the Yorkshire Pennines to further spread the NO2ID
message. Meet 11:45 outside Victoria Station for 11:54 train,
alternatively 12:30pm at Hebden Bridge Station.
11th October - Manchester NO2ID Meeting
Wednesday, 11th October 7:30pm - 9pm at the Friends Meeting House,
Mount Street, Manchester. Manchester NO2ID will be holding their
monthly meeting. The venue is wheelchair-accessible and all are welcome
to attend. We'll be discussing our progress since last month, planning
future events, as well as general ID card news and friendly chat.
17th October - Conservative Way Forward meeting - "ID Cards and the
Erosion of Civil Liberties" (£10 admission)
Tuesday, 17 October, at Wallacespace, 2 Dryden Street, London WC2E
9NA(just off Drury Lane), drinks at 6.15 pm ahead of a 6.45 pm start.
£5 charge on the door for members (of CWF, not just the Conservative
Party), £10 charge for non CWF members, admission free to bona fide
students (please bring a student identity card with you). Dress code: Business attire. E-mail
gary@conwayfor.org.uk
if you wish to attend. Speakers are: Rt Hon David
Davis MP, Shadow Home Secretary, Shami Chakrabarti, Director of
"Liberty", Camilla Cavendish, leader writer and columnist for The Times
29th November - NO2ID Public Meeting
Speakers to include Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP. Other speakers and venue to
be confirmed later.
Channel 4 documentary to look at ID cards
A documentary looking at privacy intrusive technology is to be
broadcast on Channel 4 in November. In the programme, called 'We Know
Where You Live', journalist Henry Porter will explore how a number of
new technologies are being used to support an authoritarian push
against our privacy and civil liberties - including ID cards. The
documentary will air on 20th November at 9pm and 29th November at 10pm
on More 4.
NO2ID to contribute to Hidden Agendas website
Over the coming months NO2ID will be contributing to the Hidden Agendas
website. Hidden Agendas is aimed at young people aged 16-30 and
describes itself as "the place young people go for political opinion,
debate and action".
See www.hiddenagendas.org.uk
What just happened?
Gloucestershire County Council passes anti ID motion
Last Friday (22nd September) Gloucestershire County Council
passed a motion against the government's ID card scheme. The motion
received cross-party support and was only opposed by one member,
Councillor Steve McHale - a member of the Labour group. Councillor
Jeremy Hilton said it was important the council fought "this
infringement on human rights". A list of councils
that have passed similar motions can be found at
www.no2id.net/resources/motions/index.php.
Milton Keynes Council passes a second motion against ID cards
Following on from a motion that was passed last year, Milton Keynes
Council has recently passed a second, stronger motion opposing ID
Cards. Unfortunately, a proposal to "affiliate to the National NO2ID
campaign" was rejected. However, the motion states that the council
"will assist the local NO2ID campaign in educating the residents of
Milton Keynes about the dangers to privacy and freedom the scheme will
create".
Manchester NO2ID Labour Party Conference Postcard Drop
With the Labour Party Conference in town, we wanted to make sure they
got the NO2ID message. Armed with several thousand postcards with the
new "barcode moustache" image, we went on a pub crawl around over 30
pubs and bars in the vicinity of the Conference, including the two
closest hotel bars outside the Ring of Steel. 22 venues are now
carrying our postcards, meaning that there's a vary good chance that
any delegate who goes out for the evening will be unable to deny the
existence or determination of the NO2ID campaign. In addition, every
morning of this week's Labour Party Conference, representatives from
Manchester NO2ID have been handing out leaflets to conference
delegates. Reaction has been mostly positive. Many delegates,
particularly those from unions, have happily received our material. The
only negative responses have come from Labour party workers and MPs,
some of whom have been vocal and aggressive in their objection to our
campaigning.
Glasgow ID Survey
Glasgow NO2ID last week released the results of a comprehensive month
long survey into the attitudes of Glaswegians towards the measures
introduced in the Identity Cards Act. Some of the key findings
(published in the Big Issue: http://tinyurl.com/lk9vu) include:
- 67% Of Glaswegians surveyed were opposed to the national ID cards
- 70% Of young people were concerned about how secure their biometric
data would be including fingerprints, iris and facial scanning
- 64% Of pensioners surveyed expressed strong opposition to the cards
- 60% Of 18 to 24-year old males and 74% of females were concerned
about
leaving an audit trail
- 100% Of civil servants questioned expressed doubts that the
government
could store data securely
Further details, including the full survey data and results, are
available from the Glasgow no2id website:
http://www.glasgow-no2id.org.uk/survey-200609.html
Manchester NO2ID helps launch Students Against ID
Students members of Manchester NO2ID have sent a clear message to the
government ahead of the Labour Party Conference by forming a society
opposed to the National Identity Register and Identity Cards. Over the
course of Fresher's Week, some 160 students signed up for the new
society, far more than required to found it. The society will act as a
rallying point for students opposed to the expense, intrusion and
inconvenience of the National Identity Register, and aims to encourage
the Students Union itself to oppose the scheme. Andrew Bowman, Students
Against ID President, said: "The creeping compulsion of the Identity
Register means that students may be among its first victims when forced
to register to access student loans. Students are not well-placed to
deal with the red tape of the Register, nor the large fines imposed for
failing to keep the Government informed of all changes of address. This
invasion of our privacy and liberty comes at too high a cost to the
NHS, to education, and to other areas of society, for no benefit."
Audit commission report confirms NHS info passed to Home Office
A report on the National Duplicate Registration Initiative (NDRI)
released last month by the Audit commission confirms that names and
addresses provided by patients to the NHS have been passed on to the
home office. NDRI is a national audit of patients registered with
general practitioners (GPs) in England and Wales, undertaking data
matching (of electronic data) and feeding back the matches for review.
Page 15, paragraph 34 of the report states: "The introduction of Home
Office data enabled NDRI to identify patient registrations which
related to persons who had been removed from the UK by the Home Office.
In the majority of cases the registration has now been cancelled.
However, the NHAIS [National Health Applications and Infrastructure
Services] sites identified some cases where the person appeared to have
subsequently returned to the UK. Details of these were passed to the
Home Office for them to consider what, if any, action should be taken.
Based on this information the Home Office has made a number of
deportations." Whatever happened to the Hippocratic oath.
Read the report at: http://tinyurl.co.uk/zmni
Passport interrogations slip to early 2007
The introduction of face-to-face interviews for first time passport
applications has slipped to "early 2007". The new 'Authentication by
Interview' process was due to start in October but literature from the
UK Passport and Identity Service (UKIPS) has quietly changed from a
non-committal "late 2006" to an equally non-committal "early 2007". The
delay gives us more time to set up groups in each of the towns where
the new 69 interrogation centre are going to be. They're obviously
under pressure, so early protest action could be especially effective.
We are hoping to set up local groups in all of the 69 locations, if you
can help us by forming a group in one of the areas that we do not yet
have a group, please contact us at (office@no2id.net).
A map showing the location of the interrogation centres can be found at
http://tinyurl.co.uk/8m3v
Home Office planning "covert" ID scheme
Sources have confirmed that the Home Office is planning to attempt a
'covert' implementation of the ID programme, hiding costs in the
budgets of other projects wherever possible. Should be interesting to
see what other pieces of 'critical national infrastructure' ID cards
bloat or grind to a halt in the coming months.
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2164137/id-card-scheme-changes-tack
"ID" in the news
Outrage over ads depicting Blair as Hitler - Daily Mail 25/9/06
'Tony Blair is being compared to Hitler in an advertising campaign
against ID cards. The advert - sponsored by the Lib-Dem party and
Labour MP Diane Abbott, and supported by Blur's Damon Albarn - is
running in newspapers and on billboards and shows a photo of the Prime
Minister with a barcode on his lip like the Nazi leader's moustache.
The caption reads: "ID cards have worked well in Europe before."
Campaign group NO2ID is behind the advert.' [Editor's note: the story was innaccurate - NO2ID was solely responsible; there were no billboards.]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=406887&in_page_id=1770
Identity card cost 'may be cut' - BBC News Online 25/9/06
'The costs of the identity cards scheme could be cut "quite
substantially" by making more use of existing government databases, a
minister has said. Home Office Minister Liam Byrne told a Labour
conference fringe meeting he had undertaken a full-scale review of the
controversial scheme in recent months. One councillor from Salford told
Mr Byrne he was prepared to go to jail for his opposition to the
project.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5377496.stm
EU: Interoperable IDs? - europa eGovernment News – 25/9/06
'This year’s CAST Forum in Germany set out to place the latest
developments in smart card and identification technology in their
European context. But interoperability tests are hitting snags, due to
a lack of common testing standards. If Germany’s Competence Centre for
Applied Security Technology (CAST) chose to focus on identity issues
this year, it is because the new German health entitlement and ID
cards, biometric passports and the planned European driving licence all
use chip technology.'
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/5889/194
Top ID cards job goes to Accenture's NHS IT man - silicon.com
25/9/06
'The Home Office has appointed an Accenture managing partner to head up
the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) and oversee the introduction of
the national ID cards programme. James Hall will take up his post as
the first CEO of the newly created IPS on 11 October and will have
overall responsibility for the operation and management of the agency,
including the ID cards scheme.'
http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39162711,00.htm
Accenture's NHS losses grow as NPfIT delays mount - E-Health
Insider 29/3/06
'Accenture, the leading management and technology consulting firm,
announced a provision for a further $450 million of losses against its
contract to deploy IT systems on behalf of the English NHS. The
provision led to a sharp drop in quarterly profits.'
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1795
Parents' shock at fingerprinting - The Herts Advertiser 21/9/06
'Parents at a local primary school were shocked to discover that their
children had been fingerprinted without their consent. They only
discovered what had been going on at Bowmansgreen Primary School after
reading a report in last week's Herts Advertiser. Just over 72 per cent
of our readers said that fingerprinting primary school children was
like "Big Brother".'
http://tinyurl.co.uk/nivt
NPfIT systems failing repeatedly - E-Health Insider 20/9/06
'More than 110 major incident failures have been reported by hospitals
and GPs over the past four months relating to systems provided by the
NHS National Programme for IT. The problems, which have affected dozens
of hospitals across England, were serious enough to be logged by NHS
managers as "major incidents".'
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/item.cfm?ID=2144
US: 2 million ID kits going to state's kids - Star-Telegram 19/9/06
'Fort Worth - In an effort to speed up identification of missing
children, Gov. Rick Perry announced a plan Tuesday to distribute 2
million child identification kits across the state. Each kit will
include an inkless fingerprinting card, a DNA swab and preservation
envelope, and a wallet card. Law enforcement officials are more likely
to find an abducted child if they don’t have to spend time obtaining
identifying information on the child, Perry said.'
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/15560168.htm
Germany: Proposed ‘anti-terror’ database raises concerns in Germany
- europa eGovernment News 18/9/06
'Germany’s federal and state governments have reached agreement on the
development of a new two-tier anti-terror database. But critics say it
may breach the constitution. The database is to be in two parts. One
will stock general details of suspected terrorists. The second tier, to
which access will be more restricted, will contain data on suspects’
foreign travel and possession of weapons. It is also to store details
of their religious affiliations, and this is the aspect that has given
rise to the greatest controversy.'
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/5841/194
US: The ID Chip You Don't Want in Your Passport - Washington Post
16/9/06
'If you have a passport, now is the time to renew it -- even if it's not
set to expire anytime soon. If you don't have a passport and think you
might need one, now is the time to get it. In many countries, including
the United States, passports will soon be equipped with RFID chips. And
you don't want one of these chips in your passport.'
http://tinyurl.co.uk/acrq
(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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