5 January 2007
Thousands
of people have already downloaded and used TheBigOptOut.org's[1] letter, and
officials at Connecting for Health - the NPfIT division of the Department of
Health - are making increasingly desperate and sometimes contradictory
statements and claims. Lord Warner (only days after announcing his resignation)
got a drubbing from Cambridge Professor of Security Engineering, Ross Anderson
on the Today show. Harry Cayton, CfH's 'patient tsar', just can't seem to
understand why people won't take him at his word on the security of the system,
and who will have access to your medical records - just weeks after DoH has gone
back on its promise of a meaningful opt-out. Please write to your GP using the
opt out letter[2] on TheBigOptOut site, their handy form allows you to enter
your details and then print off your own letter. In addition please tell all
your friends about the opt out letter - the more of us that contact our GPs the
more likely we are to succeed.
References:
[1] The Big Opt Out has been formed in response to the fact that millions of
personal medical records are to be uploaded, regardless of patients' wishes, to
a central national database (the NHS spine). As the Guardian put it in
November: "The NHS's centralised and computerised system 'Spine' poses a
very real threat of breaches of confidentiality of health records and raises
the spectre of other agencies getting a view too". It is likely that the
NHS database will be linked to the National Identity Register via citizen's
unique National Identity Register Number.
[2] The opt out letter was printed in newsletter 60
A consultation by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics
(NCoB) is seeking views on DNA and the DNA database. The consultation,
'Forensic use of bioinformation: ethical issues' closes on 30th January 2007.
We urge anyone who feels strongly about this issue to read the consultation
paper and submit a written response asap. It is worth remembering that when it
was found that DNA data (and samples) were being retained illegally, the
government did not respond by enforcing rules that existed to protect the
innocent - it passed new laws that allowed the innocent (even the proven
innocent) to be treated exactly the same as convicted criminals. The NcoB can
be contacted on 020 7681 9619.
We now go as far north as you can in Britain with a group Shetland
(contact via shetland@no2id). We have groups all around the country and in 36 of the
69 locations of ID interrogation centres. If you can help to set up a local
group anywhere, but especially in one of the remaining interrogaton towns, then please contact us at the address at
the end of this newsletter.
The Hackney group, covering London E8, E5, E9
& N16 areas meets 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.
Cambridge NO2ID will be running Saturday street
stalls outside Cambridge Guildhall from 10am onwards on Saturday 6th January,
Saturday 27th January, and every third Saturday until at least March.
Volunteers to help very welcome - contact Andrew Watson on 07710 469624.
After a short break during Christmas and Hogmanay
NO2ID Edinburgh will resume its regular Princes Street campaigning stall on
Saturday 13 January. 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.
Wednesday, 7th Feb, 7pm - 9pm at Friends Meeting
House, Ship Street, Brighton. The Government is planning to upload all of our
patient records onto a new database system called the NHS spine. They claim it
will allow paramedics quick access to medical information on the scene of an
accident but who other than paramedics will be viewing this information? What
happens when the information on the database is incorrect? And will this system
link in with the surveillance 'audit trail' built into the ID cards system?
Speakers: Prof. Ross Anderson, Cllr. Helen Wilkinson, Duncan Campbell, Dr. Bob
Brecher.
As
things were winding down just before Christmas - on the last possible
day, in fact - ther 'Strategic Action Plan for the National Identity
Scheme' appeared. The plan isn't a great read but there
are some interesting and worrying titbits. The way is clearly being
paved for wholesale data-sharing (aka the end of
privacy). "It would also be possible, subject to
Parliamentary approval, for information to be provided without consent
to, for
example, government departments or other public bodies." It also
reveals: "In mid 2007 we plan to commence a live pilot of interviewing
first-time adult passport applicants." That is 9 months late; but it is
coming.
In November, representatives of 13 European countries, Japan,
Georgia, the USA and the European Commission met in in the city of Porvoo,
Finland, for a conference on 'Interoperable European Electronic
Identities'. Amongst the documents of the meeting is a list of resolutions. Of particular interest is: "Resolution 4. Given the
request by the UK, there shall be a certain focus on back office processes, in
particular on the role of national population registers in accessing public
services, at the next Porvoo Group conference." Once againt
the UK government is using international bodies to create standards no one else wants - but that can then be touted to parliament and people as "international requirements".
The Belgian government is hoping to cut healthcare
paperwork by creating an "electronic platform" for communication. For instance, it would enable a GP to
sign a patient up for disability benefits online. But, says IT Minister Peter
Vanvelthoven, the scheme "won't turn into a big database with the health
data of every patient in Belgium on it. Nobody wants that kind of a Big Brother
set-up. It wouldn't be good for confidence, either among healthcare
providers or among the patients. And I wouldn't be too pleased if my own
medical data were dumped on the street."
Plans to use iris biometrics for the government’s
national identity card scheme have been shelved because of cost and technical
uncertainties.
Anger over the deal allowing the American authorities
to obtain detailed information about passengers flying to the US intensified
last night as MPs across the Commons condemned the agreement reached by
Brussels negotiators. Ministers were under pressure to spell out the full terms
of the pact after The Daily Telegraph's disclosure that the US had demanded the
right to inspect email and credit card accounts of foreign nationals travelling
to America.
A teaching union was last night accused of attempting
to turn Scotland's secondary schools into prisons after calling for pupils to
be issued with photographic identity cards. The Scottish Secondary Teachers'
Association (SSTA) said it would help to crack down on bullying by ending the
problem of young people having their school-meal swipe cards stolen and used by
other pupils.
Doctors will be advised to refuse to use the NHS's
computer system unless the Department of Health (DoH) changes its mind on
behaviour which the British Medical Association says is unlawful. The DoH has
refused to allow a large number of patients to opt out of its controversial
computerised patient records system, which is still in development. The BMA
says that that refusal is unlawful and could result in a boycott of the system
by GPs.
Hundreds of thousands of non-Europeans living in
Britain will be forced to register their biometric data as part of the national
identity card scheme, the Government said yesterday. Initially, 700,000
foreigners who renew their permits each year will be targeted.
The government has abandoned plans to build a new
computer system as part of the national identity cards scheme.
Instead information will be held on three existing and separate databases. Home
Secretary John Reid denied this was a "u-turn" saying it would save
money, lead to greater efficiency and lower the risk of fraud.
London Connects, the London-wide agency supporting
local, regional and central government in the development and delivery of
eGovernment services, is working on plans to introduce a new pan-London citizen
card scheme by 2008.
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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