It has been widely reported that the National Programme for IT in the NHS in England is to be “scrapped”.  Since we have condemned parts of that programme as a profound threat to the confidentiality of the relationship between doctor and patient, you might expect us to be pleased. But it is not true. It is not clear anything has actually changed. And the most damaging things for privacy, ­ the centralisation of records and of prescriptions, and “secondary uses” of private details for third party purposes, ­ are being proclaimed as the successes of the scheme.

The Department of Health (not a spokesman, but the voice of the department itself, as presented) is quoted in the official press release as saying: “The NPfIT achieved much in terms of infrastructure and this will be maintained, along with national applications, such as the Summary Care Record and Electronic Prescriptions Service, which are crucial to improving patient safety and efficiency. ”

NO2ID along with our friends in the NHS Confidentiality Campaign have long argued that electronic records might well be beneficial to patients, and many GPs are using them. But that is not the same as creating a system where privacy barriers are torn down, and all medical records are potentially available anywhere depending on official whim. You can have the medical benefits of electronic records and privacy together. And that could happen (as it is doing in numerous other modern countries) without the Department of Health taking control of personal information. Improving patient safety and efficiency does not require the destruction of medical privacy. To try do so is the Department’s decision, and it is not withdrawing from it yet.

What you can do

Our recommendation remains the same, to those living in England: If you and your family don’t have any significant conditions (in which case you should of course consult your family doctor to discover whether they are relevant), then do consider opting out of the Summary Care Records system, or making sure if you do decide to have one, that automatic ‘enrichment’ of your record is turned off.  Dr Neil Bhatia, a GP and critic of the system explains on his website ( http://www.nhsdatabase.info/ ):

In the event the ‘consent’ code finds its way into your GP records, Whilst your explicit consent should be sought and recorded before any further information is added beyond core data, sensitive diagnoses, conditions and procedures will be uploaded nevertheless – and automatically. [...] Think very, very hard before having an enriched SCR.

The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish health services are administered rather differently. We would like to know more about what privacy risks and options patients in those countries face, though they are generally believed to be less than those posed by the English leviathan.

What’s next?

Parliament returns on 10th October. It will be considering the Protection of Freedoms Bill, which is an improving measure, but marginally so. We have only been able to give it 3/10.

Along with other privacy and civil liberties groups, NO2ID has been advocating the establishment of a single Privacy Commissioner to replace a tangle of feeble regulators. This plan seems to have been accepted by the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, which put a very similar suggestion in its consideration of the Bill. The government (Home Office) response is in effect outright rejection. This is not a surprise, but the objections given are essentially empty.

A Privacy Commissioner wouldn’t be a substitute for proper privacy rights, but could be a key gain.

Wanted: Treasurer

We still lack a Treasurer to oversee funds and fundraising (and liaise with, but not be, the accountant). The ideal person for the role will have finance experience and be able to attend the occasional meeting in central London.

ID in the news

A selection of news stories on the database state. Opinions are those of the media concerned, not ours, unless otherwise stated.

Should your system offer Mr, Ms … and Mx? Time to phase gender out of your databases – The Register (27 Sept)

Earlier this month the Australian government announced new rules for declaring a gender on passports. This week UK authorities revealed they are conducting their own review of gender on passports. The Australian move follows increasing pressure from transgender and intersex lobbyists to alleviate difficulties they encounter when crossing borders, where there is variance between someone’s apparent gender and what is written on a document. In some countries, such difference can pose a real risk, and the problem has only intensified with the introduction of body scanners at many airports. The UK debate, however, goes further. The official Home Office position is that they are looking at “the gender options available to customers in the British passport”. Asked to clarify, a spokesman added that the statement should be taken at face value.

Database disgrace: DNA plan ‘good for rapists’- The Sun (28 Sept)

DNA records of up to 17,000 suspected rapists are to be destroyed under Government reforms ‹ jeopardising police investigations, Labour will warn today. And thousands more each year who must give samples under current rules will no longer be part of the valuable database, the Shadow Home Secretary will say. Yvette Cooper will warn that the Government’s plans will rob police of a key tool in bringing violent predators to justice. Ministers have vowed to destroy DNA samples in the database from thousands of people  including 17,000 suspected rapists who were arrested but never charged. And in the future, no genetic material will be stored from anyone arrested but not charged  including the 5,000 suspects arrested each year for rape. This is despite serial attacker John Worboys the Black Cab Rapist being caught by DNA stored after he was arrested but not charged for a sex assault. In her speech to the Labour conference today, Ms Cooper will blast the Government’s plans to slash back the DNA database.

A nation beyond help - Daily Telegraph (22 Sept)

Countless regulatory checks put volunteers off coming forward to help in their communities.

While it is evidently important to keep children safe, this will not be achieved by discouraging well-meaning adults from helping out in their communities. To its credit, the Government has suspended the Vetting and Barring Scheme that threatened to catch nine million people in its net, and legislation now before Parliament should restore some common sense to this area. Not before time.

An effective way to stop the cheats? – Bedford Today (23 Sept)

Plans to introduce automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) car parking have been included in Bedford Borough Council’s forward plan of savings, which was revealed last week. And subject to the results of a 90-day consultation period the scheme could be up and running soon. ANPR parking would replace the barrier systems in council-run car parks. As a car enters the car park a camera would recognise their number and if the driver failed to pay at the machine they would be slapped with a fine.

Committee Report Labels Police ICT Unfit For Purpose – eWeek Europe (23 Sept)

A report from MPs has warned the police’s ICT is detrimental to crime prevention and is not fit for purpose

A damning report from MPs has said that the vast number of incompatible IT systems within the UK’s 43 police forces is hindering the fight against crime. The Home Office report, entitled ‘New Landscape of Policing’  describes the current ICT setup as not fit for purpose, because the 43 forces have between them a multiplicity of different IT systems and IT contracts, many of which are not compatible with one another. In June the police finally set up a database that allowed police forces around the country to share and access locally-held intelligence. Until then, information about criminals had to be shared manually between police forces, a process that could take up to two weeks. And in May the Metropolitan Police revealed it has begun to utilise an online procurement website to help it procure goods and services.

US Attorney General defends EU data sharing agreement – BBC (20 Sept)

The US Attorney General Eric Holder has defended the sharing of personal data between the EU and US, during a hearing with the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee. The session on 20 September 2011 debated EU-US relations on tackling transnational crime, such as terrorism, fraud and human trafficking. Concerns have been raised by some over privacy issues surrounding the use of EU data – such as financial data and airline passenger records – by US authorities. This was highlighted in the rejection by MEPs of the proposed SWIFT agreement that would give US authorities access to financial transaction data.

Shocked MPs told electoral plan could remove 10m voters – Guardian (15 Sept)

Dramatic implications of individual voter registration spelt out to members on constitutional reform select committee

As many as 10 million voters, predominantly poor, young or black, and more liable to vote Labour, could fall off the electoral register under government plans, the Electoral Commission, electoral administrators and psephologists warned. Ministers have unexpectedly proposed that it should no longer be compulsory to co-operate with electoral registration officers (EROs) when they try to compile an accurate register, in effect downgrading the civic duty to engage with politics.

[NO2ID Comment: Ministers appear to have moved in favour of privacy here. Previous proposals would have meant more compulsion to participate and more capture of personal information from those who wish to exercise their right to vote.]

Identity assurance – how it will affect public services and your personal data - Computer Weekly (15 Sept)

Computer Weekly examines some of the key issues around the government’s identity assurance project for accessing public sector services.

The success of the government’s “digital by default” agenda, a central drive in its ICT strategy, will depend to a large extent on how comfortable the public feels in transmitting personal data online. The IDA project is fundamentally about shifting channels online and moving forward the digital by default agenda, says Bill McCluggage, deputy government CIO. “We have to be customer focused – the customer has to be protected under the Data Protection Act. As servants of the taxpayer, we have a duty of care,” he said.

Transparency and privacy are compatible, says government report - CIO UK (13 Sept)

As long as confidential data is protected at every stage. The Cabinet Office is asking the public to comment on a new independent report it commissioned to examine the impact of its transparency agenda on privacy.

The review, led by Dr Kieron O’Hara, a senior research fellow in electronics and computer science at the University of Southampton, was commissioned to inform the government how to maintain privacy while releasing information as part of its open data and transparency agenda. One of his conclusions was that privacy needs to be embedded into any
transparency programme, to avoid data breaches and to maintain public confidence.

Local Groups News

The size, influence and activity of NO2ID’s local group network is unique among single-issue campaigning groups.

If you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James Baker campaigns@no2id.net / 07817 605 162 to discuss what’s involved. Local groups are currently doing two new things in addition to their usual business. The first is distributing our new Factsheet on Automatic Numberplate Recognition and travel tracking to people on the street. The secondly is a street survey to assess people’s concerns and priorities over their privacy. This survey is designed to help us better understand what bothers people and what doesn’t as well as what they know.

Even if there is not an active group in your area, there may well be a local mailing list to keep in touch with other supporters. See:
http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/ or call the office for details.

The news of the first part of the summer was all about privacy, and the phone ‘hacking’ story is coming back again, it seems. We have also seen some recent controversy about the social networks Facebook and Google+ trying to enforce a ‘real names’ policy. Public interest in the topic of privacy is by no means dead.  And those privacy worries are rooted in everyday experience. That is good news for the NO2ID campaign.

What is less good news is that the systematic threats to all our privacy are not just limited to the voluntary social networks. Government is still expanding more direct forms of mass-surveillance. If you fail to set a PIN an unscrupulous investigator might hack your voicemail. But if he needs to find out who you have called, he needs to bribe a policeman or someone else with access to communications data – which must be kept by law. While the News of the World was being noisily shut down, the quiet starting up of the new
Communications Capabilities Development Programme showed that government is in the stalking business too. (See, for example:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/07/21/uk-isp-entanet-slams-revived-plans-to-monitor-and-intercept-your-online-comms.html)

But at least the word ‘privacy’ is in circulation. Which means campaigning for privacy is a little easier. Though there are a multitude of things for NO2ID to be against, that is what it is for. Our ultimate formal object is: ‘To promote legislation or administrative change in order to safeguard the privacy, personal security, and information security of individuals, from the threats posed by ID Schemes and other mass-surveillance schemes.’ And at last we may be able to find a receptive audience for that.

We will carry on opposing all sorts of mass-surveillance schemes in general. But we also need a steady focus on:

• direct protections in law for privacy that are available to everyone
• the right to control information about you as if it were your property
• entitlement to adequate compensation if your privacy is abused

As the ‘ID in the News’ section below shows, there are still plenty of people in authority who cannot see the problem. Anonymity, an essential for genuine privacy, is seen as a threat, not a safety factor. It is up to us to change that presumption.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Cabinet Office experiments with ‘Identity Assurance’
NO2ID, along with a variety of experts and civil society groups, has been consulted concerning a new Cabinet Office scheme to create a technological ‘ecosystem’ which would allow people to interact easily with government and commercial entities online without disclosing or exchanging significant amounts of personal information. This is potentially a good idea. But it is not easy to execute it properly. The devil will be in the detail, legal and technical. We are attending regular meetings of an ‘Identity Assurance Privacy and Consumer group’
and will keep a very close eye on what emerges.

Equality and Human Rights Commission takes notice of ‘Informational privacy’

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, an official body, has just issued a lengthy report, ‘Protecting Informatiom Privacy’, (http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/rr69.pdf ) by Professors Charles Raab and Benjamin Goold which echoes many of NO2ID’s concerns and attacks the spread of the surveillance society. Among their recommendations: ‘A clear set of ‘privacy principles’ should be developed and used as the basis for future legislation, and to guide the decisions of regulators and government agencies concerned with information privacy and data collection in different contexts.’

Welcome our new administrator

NO2ID’s office in Westminster has a new part-time administrator. Kaajal Modi has taken over from Stephanie Munro, who leaves us for academia, but the office contact details remain the same. She will be working two days a week, handling enquiries and the paperwork without which we cannot function.

WHAT’S NEXT?

NO2ID at the Conferences

NO2ID does not plan a formal presence at any of the party conferences this year. We shall however be distributing on paper a briefing on the database state and the state of the debate to all parliamentarians and all delegates at the LibDem, Conservative and Labour conferences. We judge this more cost-effective than taking a stand and trying to compete with richer lobbyists.

If you are attending any party conference as a delegate or activist and would like to meet other NO2ID supporters in your party, we will be happy to introduce you. Just send an email to office@no2id.net with the name of your party in the subject-line and an email address that you do not mind us sharing.  We’ll then send each person attending that conference an email introduction to all the others (just names and emails unless you specifically say otherwise).

For a copy of the conference briefing, please contact the office.

Protection of Freedoms Bill moves forward.

The Protection of Freedoms Bill grinds slowly through its stages in the House of Commons. This is an important piece of legislation in that it does at least halt the expansion of mass surveillance in some areas. But it does not go nearly far enough, and lacks principle. We hope to see it improved by amendments from our parliamentary friends during the remainder of its passage.  For a summary of NO2ID’s

‘Battle of Ideas’ Festival

Guy Herbert will be speaking on a panel at the Battle of Ideas in Kensington on the weekend of 29-30 October.  (The discussion is about the ‘Olympic legacy’. The London Olympics is expected to involve a huge increase in surveillance ’security’ operation across large parts of the country, not just in London.)

If you are involved with any organisation or event that would benefit from a NO2ID speaker, please contact the office and we will see what we can do to help.

Treasurer needed

We still lack a Treasurer to oversee funds and fundraising (and liaise with, but not be, the accountant). The ideal person for the role will have finance experience and be able to attend the occasional central meeting in London.

‘ID’ IN THE NEWS

A selection of opinions from the media on our area of interest; we don’t necessarily agree, but this is what they are saying.

‘Facebook is not trusted to provide government ID system’ – Computer Weekly (7 Sept)
Digital Identity Assurance will be the means through which citizens electronically provide their personal details to access government services, as more transactions move to a ‘digital by default’ model. The project is to be provided by a range of private sector organisations to enable users to choose which company they wish to transmit their details through. But despite previous speculation, Facebook will not be involved.
Guy Herbert, general secretary at privacy campaign group No2ID, said the government’s reluctance to use Facebook in the delivery of the project is not assurance in itself against a misuse of public data. ‘Given Facebook’s fairly iffy reputation, it doesn’t come as a great surprise that it’s not a qualifying party for these sorts of services. But I don’t want to say the project must be OK just because the government won’t be using Facebook,’ he said.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/09/08/247829/Facebook-is-not-trusted-to-provide-government-ID-system.htm

‘It is right to curtail web anonymity’ - Financial Times (31 Aug)

The policy that people are free to interact online anonymously – or at least using pseudonyms – is now under attack from social networking companies. Both Faceboook and Google, which in June launched a competing service called Google Plus, have cracked down on people trying to use pseudonyms rather than full identities. Governments and law enforcement agenies have other mechanisms to track down criminals, whether they are inciting riots on social networks, sending pornography and spam, hacking, or stealing money. There is no
need to force everyone online to carry an identity card.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3637672-d31e-11e0-9ba8-00144feab49a.html

ONS could be forced to share UK census data – Computer Weekly (2 Aug)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) could be forced to disclose UK census information to police or intelligence services, because it has not taken legal advice about preventing data being disclosed to third parties under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRA).
Andrew Watson, campaigner for digital rights group NO2ID, said the ONS stance is at odds with the information given to the public about confidentiality of census data. ‘I find it incredible they didn’t take any legal advice given that the ONS launched a multimillion-pound public campaign, with the assurance that the data given would be absolutely confidential and kept under lock and key,’ he said.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/08/02/247493/ONS-could-be-forced-to-share-UK-census-data-after-failing-to-seek-legal.htm

DNA super-network increases risk of mix-ups - New Scientist (5 Sept)

A man arrested on DNA evidence has been cleared of murdering an Italian woman after police admitted he was the victim of an Interpol blunder. Italian police had requested a search of the UK DNA database and claimed that bartender Peter Hamkin, 23, was a perfect match, and that he fitted witness descriptions of the murderer. After a 20-day
ordeal, a second DNA test ruled Hamkin out and he was released without charge.
Human rights groups and scientists are concerned that mix-ups like this may happen more often once the Prüm Treaty to create a super-network of European DNA databases is implemented.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128285.500-dna-supernetwork-increases-risk-of-mixups.html

New biometric residence permits for Germany – expatforum.com (31 Aug)

New biometric residence permits for non European Union citizens are being introduced in Germany from Thursday 1st September. The electronic chip cards are replacing the existing paper residence permits that are regarded as open to being faked. It is part of a general move to combat identity fraud and to comply with European Union rules.
Non-EU citizens living in Germany will only have to apply for a new card once their existing paper permit runs out. By 2021, all residence permits should be replaced by the electronic cards.
http://www.expatforum.com/germany/new-biometric-residence-permits-for-germany.html

Police turn back 50 cars in operation to stop criminals – Manchester Evening News (13 Aug)

Police used number-plate spotting technology to turn known criminals away from Manchester in the days after the riots. Officers stationed on key routes into the city were instantly checking registration plates of vehicles against a string of national databases. Known criminals have been intercepted and ordered to turn around. On Wednesday evening alone, 50 vehicles were turned away from Manchester by officers determined to keep the streets
trouble-free.http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1455641_police-turn-back-50-cars-in-operation-to-stop-criminals-entering-city-centre

NHS security breach as patients’ letters posted with security codes on envelopes – The Telegraph (3 Aug)

Elderly and vulnerable patients have been placed at risk after a security blunder by NHS workers, when at least 216 letters were posted with security codes for door entry and key safe boxes printed on the front of the envelopes. The confidential information is used by carers and nurses to gain entry to immobile patients’ homes. The information was wrongly added to records on the Personal Demographic Service, part of the NHS ‘Spine’ database that holds the contact details of every patient in England, and then put onto address labels when letters were sent out.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8677789/NHS-security-breach-as-patients-letters-posted-with-security-codes-on-envelopes.html

Government Sued For Axing e-Borders Contract – eWeek Europe (27 Aug)

The British government is reportedly locked in a legal tussle with an American defence contractor over a terminated contract. It has emerged that Raytheon is suing the government for £500 million for terminating an IT contract with the UK Border Agency. It all began back in 2007 under the Labour government when it signed a £650m deal with Raytheon under which it would act as the lead supplier for the consortium building the e-Borders system.
http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/government-sued-for-axing-e-borders-contract-38015

LOCAL GROUPS NEWS

NO2ID local groups are currently undertaking two new activities. The first is distributing our new ANPR factsheet to people on the street, and talking to them about travel surveillance. Secondly we have a brand new street survey to assess people’s concerns and priorities over their privacy. This survey is designed to help us better understand how we can fight the database state and protect people’s right to privacy.

For as copy of the survey or the factsheet, please contact the office

The size, influence and activity of NO2ID’s local group network is unique amongst single-issue campaigning groups. If you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James Baker campaigns@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved.  Even if there is not an active group in your area, there may well be a local mailing list to keep in touch with other supporters. See:
http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/ or call the office for details.

Manchester

The minutes from Manchester NO2ID’s last meeting our now up on their own website.
http://manchester.no2id.net/story/draft-minutes-manchester-no2id-meeting-thursday-21st-july-2011
Following the meeting the group is planning to hold a stall shortly to launch our new street survey on privacy concerns.
You can join the mailing list for the Manchester NO2ID group at
http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.manchester
Please contact Gary Peart on manchester@no2id.net for more information

Edinburgh

Saturdays 1pm – 3pm – Edinburgh NO2ID Street Stall
Every week, weather permitting, you will find our campaigning stall at the east end of Princes Street, opposite the Balmoral Hotel.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?8&q=Balmoral+Hotel,+Princes+Street,+Edinburgh
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/

Leeds

Rory Laing has now agreed to take on the role of joint co-ordinator with Nadine Omotese. Both Rory and Nadine can both be reached at
leeds@no2id.net
The Leeds group met on Sunday 4th September. At the meeting the group discussed ways in which we could educate the public about existing
privacy rights. They agreed to hold a street stall on Briggate on Saturday 8th October. If you can help with this stall please ring 07504 094 592.
Anyone wishing to join the Leeds NO2ID mailing list can do so here -
http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.leeds

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?

The Coalition Agreement said: ‘We will put patients in charge of making decisions about their care, including control of their health records,’ but as NO2ID has previously pointed out, nothing much seemed to change when they came to power. In England and Wales, Primary Care Trusts were given the OK to continue uploading personal records to their central databases on the basis that anyone who failed to object in writing had consented.

Even though the National Programme for IT is widely acknowledged as a disaster (see ID in the News, below), the idea of sharing patient information continues to entrance the Department of Health, and to be lobbied for by organisations such as Dr Foster, whose business it is. This has implications for the stalled NHS changes in England and
Wales. Please write to your MP and ask them to look carefully at Part 9, Chapter 2 of the Health and Social Care Bill.
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/healthandsocialcare.html
This would establish a new NHS body, the Health and Social Care Information Centre (confusingly, an organisation of the same name already exists), which would be a clearing house for information of all kinds, with the details to be decided later:

cl.251 (1) ‘The Secretary of State or the Board may direct the Information Centre to establish and operate a system for the collection, analysis and publication or other dissemination of information of a description specified in the direction.’
…
cl.252 (2) ‘Any person (including a devolved authority) may request the Information Centre to establish and operate a system for the collection, analysis and publication or other dissemination of information of a description specified in the request.’

Of course managing the system (however it is organised) requires information standards and management information. But unless there are some strong privacy protections built in, the Bill would establish a bureaucratic entity whose only function is to traffick in information without limit, and whose natural clientele cares nothing for medical confidentiality. We should demand those protections are put in now.

… AND A NEW NATIONAL IDENTITY SCHEME (PERHAPS)

It has been widely reported that the Cabinet Office is planning ‘ID cards without the cards’. That is certainly an oversimplification of the new plans for an Identity Assurance scheme. The precise details of what is being done are obscure, though a pilot is supposed to be operating by this October. NO2ID has been asked to comment on the scheme, but as yet we have not seen very much that can be commented on. No-one should be allowed to suggest we endorse it.

The scheme could be harmless. It might conceivably be a good thing. But it could also be very dangerous. If it turns out it can be used by government departments and other large organisations to fix identities and share information about people, it is inevitable that is how it will be used. This needs watching closely.

What’s next?

Reorganising NO2ID

New NO2ID newsletter editor (still) required

Sorry for the gap. We are relaunching the newsletter now, though we still have to find someone to take over as editor. It is not a technical or literary role, but internet and writing background is preferable. Please contact Guy at general.secretary@no2id.net if you are interested in joining a team to do the job

Treasurer & Secretary

Thanks to all who came forward offering to take up the role of Secretary. Mara MacSeonin (secretary@no2id.net) has bravely agreed to take on that role, and will be working to expand our links with other organisations.  We still lack a Treasurer, though, to oversee funds and fundraising (and liase with, but not be, the accountant). The ideal person for the role will have finance experience and be able to attend the occasional central meeting in London.

A stable structure

As long ago as 2007, the AGM recognised that the campaign would be legally better constituted if it had its own personality rather than operating as a loose club of individuals, with every member liable. We have now established a non-profit company, which formally began operation on 1st June 2011 – though the old association structure will continue to exist until members decide otherwise. If philanthropists come forward with millions, the funds will be legally safe. But there is no pot of gold yet. (Let us know if you have one to spare.) The
company directors are Guy Herbert and NO2ID Advisory Board members Andy Robson and Andrew Watson, and they are looking to establish a broad advisory council to get regular feedback from supporters and affiliates of the campaign.

EVENT – Statewatch’s 20th birthday

The campaign group Statewatch has performed great service over the years monitoring the activities of the European Union in the area of civil liberties. Its communications are a source of detailed, solidly researched, information on which NO2ID among many others (of all political persuasions) has come to rely.

We think NO2ID supporters will be interested in this event:

STATEWATCHING EUROPE: Civil liberties, the state and the EU
European Conference marking Statewatch’s 20th anniversary
Saturday 25 June 2011, 10.00 am  17.30 pm
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
http://www.statewatch.org/conference/conference.pdf
Book Online: http://www.statewatch.org/ordering/order.html

ID in the news

Open up the numberplate recognition camera system – Guardian Comment (17 May)

Britain has an abundance of surveillance cameras, perhaps 1.85m in total. Data on the owners and locations of these cameras is generally publicly available; speed camera sites are embedded in satnav systems, for example. Also, the Data Protection Act entitles you to obtain images of yourself on camera. These two are tied together by necessity: it is tricky to exercise your data protection rights if you don’t know which organisation has the images and you can’t say on which camera you were caught. These seem pretty sensible safeguards,
given the levels of surveillance.

However, the police appear to not agree. Police forces believe their network of 4,000-plus automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras – which in England and Wales are used to store the details and pictures of every vehicle passing a camera, with some data kept for two years – is exempt from these reasonable measures.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2011/may/17/automatic-numberplate-recognition-cameras-anpr

Government plans next-generation ID scheme – Computer Weekly (2 June):

The government has been coy about the pilot identity system it has been running with Mydex, the East London start-up whose trials with Brent Borough Council created in March what was dubbed ‘a Google moment’. …
Guy Herbert, NO2ID National Organiser, told Computer Weekly the plans as they stand might not give the individual enough power over their own data. He feared both government departments and private companies were hungry alike for power over identities and personal data. ..
Like Heath and other members of the Network for the Post-Bureaucratic Age who have played such an important part in formulating and elaborating Conservative policy to date, Herbert and the privacy lobby are concerned to see the government fulfils its policy promise to deliver more power to individuals and not to corporations.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/06/02/246856/Government-plans-next-generation-ID-scheme.htm

MPs’ report slams e-Borders – Guardian (3 June):
In its report on the UK Border Agency, the committee says it is disturbed at the delays in delivery and the shape of the programme.
‘We remain deeply concerned about the e-Borders programme, given its history, the lack of clarity about the final shape of the scheme and the high (but still unquantifiable) cost to taxpayers and to carriers,’ it says. ‘We will expect rapid progress to be made in this programme by the time of the next tri-annual letter in July 2011.’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/jun/02/mps-report-slams-uk-border-agency-e-borders

British airline passengers to US could have details kept for 15 years – Telegraph (26 May)
British airline passengers flying to the United States face having their personal information, including addresses, phone numbers and credit card details, stored for 15 years under under a proposed agreement between the US and the European Union.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/8537153/US-to-hold-details-of-British-air-passengers-for-15-years.html

Police breaking law by keeping DNA of the innocent, supreme court rules – Guardian (18 May)

The supreme court has declared that chief constables who refuse to delete the DNA profiles of more than 1 million innocent people on request are acting unlawfully…. Chief constables have continued collecting the DNA profiles of everyone arrested, whether they are convicted or not, and keeping them indefinitely on a national database. This is despite a ruling by the European court of human rights more than three years ago that it was a breach of privacy rights.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/18/police-dna-database-supreme-court

Fears over patient data as NHS computers are hacked into - Daily Mail (9 June)

Government plans to put all patients into a centralised database have already been condemned by the National Audit Office. The £11.4billion IT system was declared a disaster by experts, who warned it would not provide value for money. Tory MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Public Accounts Committee, said: ‘This highlights a very serious problem which the NHS and Department of Health seem to have downplayed. It also points to further danger as we move towards centralised medical records. It will concern millions of people who want their records to be in safe hands.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2001816/NHS-computers-hacked-Fears-patient-data.html

NHS IT dino-project NPfIT should be killed off – NAO – The Register (17 May)

NAO: ‘The rate at which electronic care records systems are being put in place across the NHS under the National Programme for IT is falling far below expectations and the core aim that every patient should have an electronic care record under the Programme will not now be achieved.’  Auditors noted that even where programmes have been delivered they’re not fulfilling all the functions promised. And even though the number of systems has been significantly reduced there has not been a similar cut in costs.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/18/nao_nhs_failed/

Local Groups News

The size, influence and activity of NO2ID’s local group network is unique amongst single-issue campaigning groups. If you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James Baker campaigns@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved.  Even if there is not an active group in your area, there may well be a local mailing list to keep in touch with other supporters. See:
http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/ or call the office for details.

Derby
Nick Wray has been doing a fantastic job in chasing up the ONS and trying to get some answers from them following our census campaign. A local school has also decided to start fingerprinting it’s kids, and Nick has been offering advice and support to concerned parents. You can email Nick on midlands@no2id.net if you want to lend a hand with the work he is doing.

Edinburgh
Saturdays 1pm – 3pm – Edinburgh NO2ID 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. Or contact Dr John Welford: Edinburgh@no2id.net

Leeds
Leeds NO2ID held a street stall in May. The stall tried out some new leaflets based on the design Kathy from the Camden and Islington group submitted for our poster competition. There was a decent level of interest in what we were doing and we handed out of a good couple of hundred leaflets.

Rory Laing has agreed to help Nadine Omotese and act as a joint organiser for the Leeds group. There is a planning meeting in July. Anyone interested in getting involved should email leeds@no2id.net or join the list at http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.leeds

Liverpool
Liverpool has a new organiser. Stephen Gradwick, a new member, has agreed to take on this role. Stephen has a lot of experience dealing with the Data Protection Act, and Freedom of Information Act and is happy to help others in making requests to reclaim their personal information, or get information out of public bodies. You can email Stephen at liverpool@no2id.net or join the email list at http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.liverpool

Manchester
Gary Peart has taken over from Dave Page as the Manchester organiser. Dave has been a fantastic asset to the campaign over the years, and we hope he will still get involved in things when his busy schedule allows it.  Gary is currently working with James, our campaigns manager, to design local leaflets they can use to promote the Manchester group – which, if successful, others will be able to copy.  He is also starting some research into the cost of the ANPR network within the city. If you would like to get involved in the work
of the group please email Gary at manchester@no2id.net or join the email list at http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.manchester

NO2ID now has a Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NO2ID/27375013563
James Baker runs a twitter account on our behalf: @no2id

NO2ID has campaigned for years now against the police retention of DNA samples from the innocent, the culture of suspicion in criminal records checks, too easy access to details of your telephone and internet usage, and the widespread monitoring of road travel through a centralised database of number plate recognition records.

All these do seem to be addressed in the coalition’s new ‘Protection of Freedoms Bill’, so we can be pleased there are some signs we are being listened to.

However, the changes are very complicated and bureaucratic. The government is often content to tackle particular abuses in detail, rather than setting out broad principles or firm rules. The biggest changes are for DNA – advertised as ‘moving to the Scottish system’ in England and Wales, though that doesn’t seem completely accurate.

It may turn out that rather than a decisive turning of the tide, this Bill represents a temporary pause in the growth of the Database State. We will want to lobby Parliament on the detail. We will be pressing for greater, clearer changes than are currently on offer. And of course we will not stop our campaign for new law that will create direct rights for you to assert control over who uses personal information about you and how.

YOUR HELP NEEDED

To keep going NO2ID doesn’t just need willing campaigners, it also needs administration. Stephanie Munro ably handles most of the actual office paperwork. However we also need volunteers for Secretary (in charge of membership, affiliation and organisational formalities) and Treasurer (in charge of funds and fundraising).
The posts need not take huge amounts of time but they offer the satisfaction of ensuring the organisation can run smoothly. Please let us know if you would like to consider either role.

Contact Guy Herbert:  general.secretary@no2id.net

What just happened?

Protection of Freedoms Bill published

The Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition government has published the Protection of Freedoms Bill 2011
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmbills/146/11146.i-v.html#top

It takes 140 pages of legislation to undo some, but not all of the previous Labour government’s excessive and repressive Database State legislation.

This Bill needs your expert scrutiny, because there are crucial repeals and reforms which are missing from it and, on past performance, many backbench MPs (from all parties), are unlikely to bother to read, let alone understand, it all.

The Cabinet Office has set up a website where you can comment on each clause of this Bill:
http://publicreadingstage.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

There are some links to background impact assessments, etc. on this Home Office web page:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/legislation/protection-freedoms-bill/

National Identity Register physical destruction of hard disks

The National Identity Scheme is now formally scrapped and the personal data of the few thousand people (most of whom were not ordinary members of the public) which was held on the centralised biometric database National Identity Register has been publicly destroyed.
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=417917&SubjectId=2

The destruction of the NIR has been carried out within two months of Royal Assent of the Identity Documents Bill. Around 500 hard disk drives and 100 back up tapes containing the details of 15,000 holders have been magnetically wiped and shredded in line with Cabinet Office rules and will soon be incinerated.

There is even a Home Office video of this destruction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dB-LQf6zYU

In response, Andrew Watson of NO2ID in East Anglia published this video about decommissioning anti-ID-card campaign materials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fooTbE299OY

What’s next?

The Census: Sunday March 27th 2011
Sunday March 27th 2011 is Census Day, now rapidly approaching.

The census is in fact so useless for government planning that even Whitehall has noticed, and it being a bit late to cancel, the present coalition government is suggesting it will be the last.

The Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude, said last summer:

‘There are, I believe, ways of doing this which will provide better, quicker information, more frequently and cheaper.’

NO2ID will be asking for all the raw census data to be destroyed, to stop it being shared for other uses, and will strongly suggest that people only fill in the minimal information, not answering any voluntary questions. The total cost of the census to the taxpayer is estimated at over £450 million.

The Office of National Statistics is preparing a big propaganda campaign starting with TV adverts to be aired on the 21st of February and also using social networking tools like Twitter.
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=417917&SubjectId=2

See also:
http://spyblog.org.uk/ssl/spyblog/2011/01/03/2011-census—press-social-media-spin-preparations.html

Some newspapers and broadcasters will therefore be desperate for alternative views. It should be an opportunity for NO2ID supporters to explain the big risks to privacy and security from this census, as against a very small value to government planning.

This year’s list of questions is the longest and most intrusive to date.

Census 2011 Questions for England and Wales
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-questionnaire-content/2011-census-questions—england.pdf

Unlike in Northern Ireland and Scotland, the absolute confidentiality of personal information is no longer guaranteed by law in England and Wales. This was changed by the last government in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, s39:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/18/section/39

Raw census data may be acquired by the police, the intelligence agencies, immigration authorities, tax inspectors, DWP investigators, foreign governments or private sector or academic ‘approved researchers’, etc.

There is more ethnic profiling than before. In Scotland, the census is asking about both ‘Gypsies / Travellers’ and ‘Polish’ ethnic backgrounds. Unlike the questions on religion, these ethnic ones are mandatory, with a fine of up to £1000 and a criminal record for failing to answer. (Despite there being over 390,000 self-declared Jedi recorded on the last 2001 census, more than the number of professed Sikhs or Jews, there is no tick-box for Jedi.)

You now, for the first time, are expected to state your employer’s name, their main activity, their address, and the location you work at, including postal address and post code. This applies to everyone, whether they work for Tesco, for the intelligence services, or are witnesses fleeing organised crime. How convenient for criminals and foreign governments to have all such information in one place…

According to the Privacy Impact Assessment (pdf),
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/commitment-to-confidentiality/privacy-impact-assessment–pia–on-2011-census.pdf

the census data itself will be treated as RESTRICTED, and is going to be processed by 1300 temporary employees at an 800,000 square foot warehouse located on the corner of Marshall Stevens Way and Westinghouse Road, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1QP

http://www.secret-bases.co.uk/secret.htm#census2011

Some more background links to the Census 2011 can be found in the Spy Blog category archive:
http://spyblog.org.uk/ssl/spyblog/census-sunday-march-27th-2011/

‘ID’ in the news

Please email the Editors any relevant news reports: newsletter@no2id.net

Airport face scanning robots switched off

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/16/face_scanner_fail/

Facial recognition scanners at Manchester Airport have been switched off after an incident in which the robot guard let a couple through the gate even though they had swapped passports.

An immigration officer stopped the couple after they got through the barrier.

Even under the ideal controlled conditions of an airport passport check, this facial biometric technology is still not reliable enough for mass transit or national scale identity projects.

Campaigners in Kent hit back at centralised medical database

http://www.yourcanterbury.co.uk/p_139/Article/a_11293/Medical_records_computer_database_under_fire_from_privacy_campaigners

Medical records computer database under fire from privacy campaigners

The lack of privacy and risks to the security of your medical records is an area of NO2ID campaigning, which has seen little difference so far, between the policies of current Government and the previous one.

James Baker Interviewed

James Baker our Local Groups Coordinator has been interviewed by Civility. Civility describe their campaign as a community of people dedicated to helping the UK become a shining beacon for civil liberties, rolling back excesses, through the creation of a spunky, effective public movement that helps people think about civil liberties and take action to defend and enhance them in the UK. You can read the interview here:
http://www.civility.me.uk/blog/2011-02-02/exclusive-interview-james-baker-no2id

Tayside Police officer admits leaking sensitive data

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-12369049

‘A police officer has admitted leaking sensitive information to her lover who then tipped off a suspect in a criminal investigation.
[...]
Howie also admitted breaching the Data Protection Act by accessing police computer systems to uncover details of an ongoing police investigation into a counterfeiting operation.’

No matter how much ’security vetting’ of personnel with access to sensitive state run computer databases, there will always be privileged insiders who can be exploited to illegally disclose the most sensitive data.

Immigration officer fired after putting wife on list of terrorists to stop her flying home

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351937/Immigration-officer-fired-putting-wife-list-terrorists-stop-flying-home.html

An immigration officer tried to rid himself of his wife by adding her name to a list of terrorist suspects. He used his access to security databases to include his wife on a watch list of people banned from boarding flights into Britain because their presence in the country is ‘not conducive to the public good’.

As a result the woman was unable for three years to return from Pakistan after travelling to the county to visit family. The tampering went undetected until the immigration officer was selected for promotion and his wife name was found on the suspects’ list during a vetting inquiry.

If an innocent person can be tagged as a terrorist suspect through a mistake or through malice, for 3 years without detection, then the failed management procedures and data quality cross checks, must also mean that real terrorist suspects are escaping detection nby this Database State system. What exactly has the Borders Agency done to physically or electronically prevent such abuse by privileged insiders from happening in the future?

Wikileaks: Meeting between Michael Chertoff & Jacqui Smith

The Daily Telegraph publication of a Wikileaks leaked US Diplomatic Cable from 2007 involving the then US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and the (still current) Home Office security policy mandarin Charles Farr, is analysed on the NO2ID discussion forum:
http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34961&start=0

‘Secretary Chertoff noted a vocal minority opposes ID cards.’

So much for the accuracy of US intelligence sources. Had nobody briefed him that by 2007, virtually all the opposition parties and the mainstream media were against the National Identity Scheme ?

Neither Chertoff nor Smith appear to have understood the mathematics of fingerprint biometric False Positives / False Negatives, but they still saw their pet schemes as somehow worth spending / wasting billions on.

LOCAL GROUPS NEWS

To see if there’s a group in your area check our list at
http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/
Or, if you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James on local.groups@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved and what we have in place to what we have in place to support coordinators and their groups.

Poster Competition Winners

Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry. All of the entries we received were of a high standard, but we have whittled them down and picked our four winning entries. We will shortly be getting these images printed and distributed subject to any copyright clearance. Meanwhile they have been hosted on our Flickr group for you to look at and share

1st Place: Gagged
This entry was submitted by Nick Hay of Archibald Ingall Stretton…
www.archibaldingallstretton.com

2nd Place: Nothing to hide
Also submitted by Nick Hay of Archibald Ingall Stretton…
www.archibaldingallstretton.com

3rd Place: Safe in their hands?
This entry was submitted by James Baker our campaigns manager

4th Place: We Campaign
This entry was submitted by Kathy from Camden & Islington NO2ID group.

NO2ID web links

Website home page:  http://no2id.net

Press & Media:  http://www.no2id.net/news/

Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/no2id

Discussion forums:  http://forum.no2id.net/

Financial Donations:  http://www.no2id.net/getInvolved/donate

Newsletter Subscriptions

You can change how you receive our newsletter, or cancel it, by using the ‘Unsubscribe or edit options’ form at the bottom of this page:

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id-supporters

If you have any problems, please send an e-mail to

listmaster@no2id.net

© NO2ID 2011

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.

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

+ FAREWELL TO PHIL – AND OUR WAY FORWARD +

After 6 years as National Coordinator of NO2ID, our chief executive, Phil Booth has resigned for personal reasons.  The NO2ID Advisory Board met on Monday evening (31st January) and appointed Guy Herbert as his successor. Guy has worked as a volunteer for the whole of the organisation’s formal existence and been involved in every aspect of the campaign – including as the original newsletter editor.

Guy says:
“No one should underestimate the debt the whole country owes to Phil Booth. His incredible energy and hard work has been one of the key factors in making NO2ID the fastest growing and most successful group in modern British history, and allowing us to kill the Home Office’s ID scheme. Our task now is to use that invaluable legacy and experience, and take the fight to the surveillance state.

“Everybody needs privacy, but not everybody realises how much they do – or how much it is threatened. NO2ID’s campaign strategy for the coming year will focus particularly on government initiatives that affect very large numbers of people, and that illustrate the key point about the stalker-state’s unnecessary obsession with knowing its citizens intimately: the ID culture, vetting in everyday life, databases tracking drivers and air passengers, and the continuing battles for medical privacy. The first item on the menu is the most obtrusive and pervasive piece of official nosiness of all – which the present government actually *admits* is unnecessary, but is doing anyway – the census.”

NO2ID is now seeking two volunteers (who should be full members) for the roles of Secretary (in charge of membership, affiliation, and organisational formalities) and Treasurer (in charge of funds and fundraising), both of which Guy has covered in recent years. If you are interested, please contact: general.secretary@no2id.net.

What just happened?

+ Privacy International slams ICO +

Privacy International (PI) has called for better privacy protection in the UK, whilst highlighting the utter uselessness of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Simon Davies of PI said: “The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has become a threat to privacy. The legislation that underpins the Office is narrow and in places regressive, and the ICO itself risks becoming a dangerous anachronism.” PI suggests that the data protection functions of the ICO should be scrapped and in its place there should be a new Privacy Act that creates a true watchdog with a broad mandate.
See http://www.privacyinternational.org/blog/uk-information-commissioners-office-case-justifiable-assisted-suicide

+ Police National Database and data sharing +

On 28th January the Metropolitan Police became the latest force to connect to the new Police National Database (PND). In 2005 the IMPACT Nominal Index (INI) was introduced to share data across police forces, the PND replaces the INI. According to the NPIA the PND “will allow 12,000 named users to search full data records of all UK forces, covering People, Objects, Locations and Events (POLE)”. In an article on the Public Service website Jennie Cronin, IMPACT programme director at the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) wrote: “To build the culture of sharing we also needed to give the service, and the general public, confidence that the PND was secure enough to hold and protect the most sensitive intelligence.”
See http://www.npia.police.uk/en/15091.htm
and http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=15689

+ What’s in store for the census ? +

The 2011 census is set to be the most intrusive yet, so when in July the government announced plans to scrap the UK census it sounded like an announcement of less state intrusion. In reality it is anything but. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) website points out that the UK is “an active participant” in an EU Census Legislation Task Force. In 2008 the European Parliament approved a Council Census Regulation, the ONS website states: “The Framework Regulation is intended to be a permanent piece of legislation concerned with establishing common rules for the decennial provision of comprehensive population and housing data to be collected from traditional census taking or from alternative sources such as surveys and registers, or from combinations of such sources”. The information gathered in the 2011 census will be shared across all 27 Member States of the EU.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/legislation/european-union–eu–legislation.html

+ Big Brother Watch official book launch +

The Big Brother Watch book ‘Big Brother Watch: The state of civil liberties in Britain’ was officially launched this week. The book includes a chapter by NO2ID’s Guy Herbert subtitled “the silent boom in mass-surveillance” and discusses the National Fraud Initiative and e-Borders.
Get the book at:
http://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/Big%20Brother%20Watch/

What’s next?

+ The Census +
A growing area of concern for NO2ID is the UK census. In July Cabinet Minister Francis Maude MP announced that the UK census is to be abolished in theory (after this year’s census) – but meantime it is more intrusive than ever. The government wants to seek ways of more accurately gathering information on the UK population. See the “What’s Just Happened” section for more on the census.

+ Policing, Surveillance and Rights Meeting, London +
Sunday 13th February – NO2ID’s Matty Mitford will be addressing a Jewish Socialists’ Group meeting on
policing, surveillance and rights at the Indian YMCA in Fitzroy Square W1, starting at 7.30pm.

“ID” in the news

+ Government misses e-Borders passenger check target – The Guardian 3/2/11 +
The Home Office has failed to meet its target of tracking 95% of all passenger and crew journeys into and out of the UK by December 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/feb/03/home-office-misses-eborders-check-target

+ European Commission wants air traveller database – ComputerWorld UK – 3/2/11 +
If the European Commission has its way, all air travellers regardless of nationality will have to give their personal details to national authorities when they fly in or out of the European Union.
http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/public-sector/3259320/european-commission-wants-air-traveller-database/?olo=rss

+ EU police forces to see British passengers’ personal information – The Telegraph 2/2/11 +
Britons flying anywhere in Europe will have sensitive personal information handed over to the police authorities in all 27 EU countries under a new air travel surveillance system.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8299063/EU-police-forces-to-see-British-passengers-personal-information.html

+ Identity card plan ignored fatal flaws – ComputerWeekly 31/1/11 +
Ministers and civil servants swept fundamental problems with the ID card database blueprint under the carpet and approved a development plan that would prove so unfeasible it had to be torn up after government IT experts had worked on it for three years, Computer Weekly has learned.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/01/31/245150/Identity-card-plan-ignored-fatal-flaws.htm

+ ID cards decommissioned – ITPro 24/1/11 +
Although few got on board with the scheme, any existing UK ID cards are now useless for proof of identity when travelling. British ID cards can no longer be used as a form of identification when travelling across Europe.
http://www.itpro.co.uk/630295/id-cards-decommissioned

+ Advocate of national ID scheme tells Scotland Yard he couldn’t even secure his own phone messages – MicroScope 24/1/11 +
A new study shows that civil servants, cabinet members and even the prime minister behind the National ID card scheme couldn’t create passwords for their mobile phones.
http://www.microscope.co.uk/blogs/it-in-context/2011/01/advocate-of-national-id-scheme-tels-scotland-yard-he-couldnt-work-out-how-to-secure-his-own-phone-me.html

+ Voting fraud claims spark calls for ID at polls – Independent 23/1/11 +
Ministers will this week face demands to force voters to present photographic identification before they are allowed to vote, as an elections watchdog reveals that police were called in to investigate dozens of allegations of fraud at the last general election.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/voting-fraud-claims-spark-calls-for-id-at-polls-2191996.html

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter – Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )

To see if there’s a group in your area check our list at http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/
Or, if you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James on local.groups@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved and what we have in place to support coordinators and their groups.

+ Cambridge +

+ 11th February – abolition party +
The Cambridge group is planning a celebration now that the bill abolishing the ID Cards scheme has actually passed:

Friday 11th February 2011, 8pm at Garden Room, Gillespie Centre, Clare College, (in Clare Memorial Court, between Queen’s Rd and the University Library). Map: http://www.aardvarkmap.net/mape/MK949537

Free food and drink, and a couple of special guests. All welcome – please come along and help us celebrate.

+ Camden & Islington +

+ 1st March – Camden & Islington group meeting +
1st Tuesday of the month, 8.00pm at The New Rose 84-86 Essex Road, Islington.  All welcome.

For more info email camden@no2id.net or join the mailing list at: (http://www.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.camden).

+ Edinburgh +

+ Saturdays 1pm – 3pm – Edinburgh NO2ID 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/

+ Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire +

+ 19th February – Hull and East Riding NO2ID Meeting +
The new printed packs for NO2ID stalls are now coming out to local groups, with new messages to members of the public on ongoing intrusion into our privacy and misuse of our personal data. It would be good to meet in February 2011 to discuss how we’d like to use the new NO2ID materials and campaign in Hull and East Riding. If you’re free at 12.30pm  to meet in Dukes on Princes Avenue in Hull, it would be great to see you. Proposed date of meeting is Saturday 19 February 2011.

Please contact Carla on Hull@no2id.net or join our mailing list and ask us a question! – http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.Hull

You can also join the groups Facebook page at  -
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=231915099931

+ Manchester +

+ Dave Page to step down as Manchester NO2ID co-ordinator +
Dave Page has decided to step down as the Manchester NO2ID co-ordinator. Big thanks to Dave for all his hard work and for his offer to continue to advise the campaign, and help where he can. Meanwhile Gary Peart, a long standing member of Manchester NO2ID has agreed to take on this role.

For information on Manchester NO2ID see http://manchester.no2id.net/ or contact Gary Peart on manchester@no2id.net or 07722 615 398.

+ Norwich +

If you are interested in the work of the Norwich group, please join their mailing list on: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.norwich

+ Sheffield +

+ Sheffield Council to decide the fate of your data +
After warnings from the Information Commissioner Lib Dem controlled Sheffield Council is currently in the process of deciding what to do with the personal information they collect on residents’ movements. The council owns 100 ANPR cameras that are logging details of residents’ journeys. Currently the police are given access to this information that is being retained on a database by the Council. There is a proposal on the table that would see this data deleted after its initial intended use by the Council. We would urge all our Sheffield supporters to write to their Councillors asking them at the very least to adopt this proposal, but ideally, as our elected representatives, to stop collecting and sharing this personal information.
You can use the WriteToThem website to contact your local councillor (http://www.writetothem.com)

Please join the Sheffield mailing list If you haven’t already: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.sheffield

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id-supporters

If you have any problems, please send an e-mail to listmaster@no2id.net

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

+ 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.

According to ministers, the cards are voluntary and alternative means of accessing services should be made available, except for concessionary travel. In practice, many schoolchildren have been told that they *must* apply for a card to buy school meals – or even to enter school premises.

Each card is linked to a “Citizens Account” unless card-holders explicitly reject data-sharing on the application form. Citizens Accounts are records of personal information stored on a network of databases operated by Scotland’s 32 local authorities.

Even when not linked to a Citizens Account, the cards are privacy deficient. For example, when used as a bus pass, personal information about the card-holder is transmitted to the bus operator and details of the passenger and journey are recorded and logged on central government databases.

The scheme was introduced under the previous Labour/Lib Dem coalition, but has continued under the current SNP administration.

Links:
The Scottish ID cards scandal
http://www.jwelford.demon.co.uk/snec.html

Breadalbane Academy ID card causes data protection concern
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Perthshire/article/8861/breadalbane-academy-id-card-causes-data-protection-concern.html

Official websites
http://www.entitlementcard.org.uk/
http://www.youngscot.org/smartcards/

What just happened?

+ ID card report was suppressed +

The publication of a report which raised concerns about the ID-scheme was delayed – leading to the suggestion that it was suppressed in the run up to the general election. The report by the Independent Scheme Assurance Panel (ISAP) was given to the Home Office in late 2009, but only published this month. A February 2010 response to the ISAP report has also been released.
Read the report at:
http://ips.gov.uk/cps/files/ips/live/assets/documents/ISAP_Report_2009_Final.pdf
Read the response at:
http://ips.gov.uk/cps/files/ips/live/assets/documents/Response_to_ISAP_report_2009_publish.pdf

+ Summary Care Record letters in Kent +

Summary Care Record roll-out letters have started landing on people’s door mats in Kent. The distribution of public information packs alerting patients to the roll-out has been suspended since June, after the Government halted the roll-out while it conducted a review of the care record. The review concluded that opt-out forms should be included in the packs, and that the information should be simplified to make it easier for patients to understand. The patient leaflet available on the West Kent Primary Care Trust website still fails to spell out the real dangers of the Summary Care Record. The Summary Care Record system will make medical information about tens of millions of patients in England available to over 800,000 NHS staff. Patients have a right to opt out of having a Record. Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats promised to scrap Summary Care Records before they took power.
The NHS opt out form is at:
http://www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk/summary/
NO2ID’s opt-out form:
http://www.no2id.net/downloads/SCR_optout_sheet.pdf
Read the NHS Patient leaflet at:
http://www.westkentpct.nhs.uk/download.php?id=4435

+ Plan for a Public Data Corporation +

The Cabinet Office has outlined plans for a new Public Data Corporation which the government intends to set up this year. The Cabinet Office press release states: “The Corporation will, for the first time, bring together Government bodies and data into one organisation and provide an unprecedented level of easily accessible public information and drive further efficiency in the delivery of public services.” Little detailed information is available at this time.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/public-data-corporation-free-public-data-and-drive-innovation

What’s next?

+Follow the latest news on twitter+
You can keep up to date with national and local groups news via our @NO2ID twitter feed which is being updated with comments, links, and notification of events and stories.
See http://twitter.com/NO2ID

“ID” in the news

+ eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 – epractice.eu 18/1/11 +
The implementation of the 2006 eGovernment Action Plan saw governments exchange good practices, and resulted in a number of large-scale pilot projects. STORK (Secure idenTity acrOss boRders linKed), PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) and SPOCS (Simple Procedures Online for Cross-border Services) are three such major initiatives set up over the last few years.
http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/5270019

+ Without a DNA database these monsters could be on the streets – The Sun 17/1/11 +
Thousands of DNA profiles could soon be erased from the police database – despite officers using it to solve countless serious crimes. A judgement by the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was illegal for the Government to keep the DNA details of those arrested – but not convicted – for an offence.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3354746/Without-a-DNA-database-these-monsters-could-be-on-the-streets.html

+ Stockport Health Record shares data – eHeath Insider 13/1/11 +
GP system supplier Microtest and clinical record specialist Graphnet Health have announced the successful implementation of a data-sharing system at NHS Stockport.
http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/6559/stockport_health_record_shares_data

+ What have DNA database objectors got to hide? – Manchester Evening News 13/1/11 +
How many millions of hard earned tax payers’ money will be spent trying to catch Jo Yeates’s killer?
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/comment/blogs/s/1405167_nick_freeman_what_have_dna_database_objectors_got_to_hide

+ EU/US: Transatlantic eHealth agreement signed – epractice.eu 12/1/11 +
On 17 December 2010, Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes and United States Secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Washington to promote a common approach on the interoperability of electronic health records and on education programmes for information technology and health professionals.
http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/5268211

+ Border Agency plans £36.4m biometric collection contract – Kable 20/1/11 +
The Home Office agency has advertised for a single contractor to provide booths which are secure and private where overseas nationals can register for biometric residence permits by having fingerprints and a photo taken.
http://www.kable.co.uk/biometric-fingerprinting-uk-border-agency-contract-20jan11

+ Destruction of ID card data to cost £400,000 – ComputerWeekly 20/1/11 +
The destruction of the National Identity Register (NIR) and the personal data held on the controversial ID card system will cost about £400,000.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/01/20/244978/Destruction-of-ID-card-data-to-cost-163400000.htm

+ TrakCare Goes Live – a new electronic patient management system – InterSystems 14/12/10 +
NHS Borders new patient management system, TrakCare, went live on Monday 29th November. This is the culmination of almost 3 years work which began in January 2008 when five NHS Boards formed a consortium to procure a new Patient Management System for Scotland. Patient management systems are used to provide healthcare staff with information about patients and their medical history.
http://www.intersystems.com/press/2010/NHS_Borders.html

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter – Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )

To see if there’s a group in your area check our list at http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/
Or, if you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James on local.groups@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved and what we have in place to support coordinators and their groups.

+ Cambridge +

+ 11th February – abolition party +
The Cambridge group is planning a celebration now that the bill abolishing the ID Cards scheme has actually passed:

Friday 11th February 2011, 8pm at Garden Room, Gillespie Centre, Clare College, (in Clare Memorial Court, between Queen’s Rd and the University Library). Map: http://www.aardvarkmap.net/mape/MK949537

Free food and drink, and a couple of special guests. All welcome – please come along and help us celebrate.

+ Camden & Islington +

NEW VENUE CONFIRMED
+ 1st February – Camden & Islington group meeting +
1st Tuesday of the month, 8.00pm at The New Rose 84-86 Essex Road, Islington.  All welcome.

For more info email camden@no2id.net or join the mailing list at: (http://www.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.camden).

+ Edinburgh +

+ Saturdays 1pm – 3pm – Edinburgh NO2ID 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/

+ 26th January – NO2ID Edinburgh end of year social +
The Edinburgh group is organising an ‘end of year’ social, which will also be a double celebration.  Not only are we, of course, celebrating the abolition of ID cards, but also member Chris Halliday’s superb success in his long fight against the compulsory fingerprinting of his daughter by her school, and in which the European Commission has recently come out in his support.  The social will take place on Wednesday 26th January from 7pm in the Buffalo Grill bistro at 1 Raeburn Place,  Stockbridge EH4 1HU.  If you wish to join us and reserve a place please contact John (edinburgh@no2id.net).

+ Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire +

+ 19th February – Hull and East Riding NO2ID Meeting +
The new printed packs for NO2ID stalls are now coming out to local groups, with new messages to members of the public on ongoing intrusion into our privacy and misuse of our personal data. It would be good to meet in February 2011 to discuss how we’d like to use the new NO2ID materials and campaign in Hull and East Riding. If you’re free at 12.30pm  to meet in Dukes on Princes Avenue in Hull, it would be great to see you. Proposed date of meeting is Saturday 19 February 2011.

Please contact Carla on Hull@no2id.net or join our mailing list and ask us a question! – http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.Hull

You can also join the groups Facebook page at  -
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=231915099931

+ Leeds +

Please contact Nadine on Leeds@no2id.net or join our mailing list and ask us a question! – http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.leeds

+ Manchester +

For information on Manchester NO2ID see http://manchester.no2id.net/ or contact Dave Page on manchester@no2id.net or 07722 615 398.

+ Norwich +

If you are interested in the work of the Norwich group, please join their mailing list on: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.norwich

+ Reading +

+ 27th January – Reading NO2ID Meeting +
Thursday, 27th January 7.30pm, at Great Expectations Reading. We will be deciding: Press statement on coalition ID card moves (& photo), what now for Reading NO2ID (& personnel changes), and last but not least celebrate major progress made with a healthy drink or two. Look forward to seeing folk there.

+ Sheffield +

+ 26th January – Sheffield NO2ID Meeting +
Wednesday 26th January, 8.30pm at the Harlequin pub, 108 Nursery St, Sheffield, S3 8GG (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=s3+8gg). We meet downstairs in the bar area. We’ll have a NO2ID sign on the table. Please ask the bar staff if you can’t find us.

Please join the Sheffield mailing list If you haven’t already: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.sheffield

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id-supporters

If you have any problems, please send an e-mail to listmaster@no2id.net

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

+ THE WAY AHEAD +

If 2010 was NO2ID’s year of triumph, 2011 is likely to be the year of greatest danger.

The Identity Cards Act is now gone. Many will assume our task is done, and the threat to liberty that ID cards represented is gone. But demands for ‘ID’ at every turn have not disappeared. We should not assume that the pressure for mass-monitoring and state identity control has slackened. The administrator’s view still is: ‘Got a problem? Track everyone.’ Smart electricity metering, traffic control (through ANPR), fraud detection… (the list is endless), are all being built on the basis that the maximum collection and consolidation of personal information is desirable.

We need to keep up the pressure to alter that culture.  There will be fewer obvious targets at first – though there certainly are numerous schemes that deserve exposure. It will be a less obvious (though we hope not less prominent) campaign, focussed on positive change. We will continue to work with others on the massive task of mapping and explaining the database state. But the main task is to expand and clarify, and to recruit public support for, the goals set out in the new NO2ID Petition (http://www.no2id.net/downloads/petition.pdf) – establishing personal control of personal information that doesn’t rely on the goodwill and competence of the authorities:

• Government bodies must cease all unnecessary collecting of personal information about law-abiding residents of the United Kingdom.
• The passing of personal information between government bodies, or using it for new purposes, without the genuine, informed consent of the persons concerned or a specific warrant from a court must stop.

AND legal changes to:

• Establish positive protections in law for individual privacy, and
• Give everyone a right to compensation from anyone who uses our personal information in an unauthorised way.

+ New NO2ID newsletter editor required +

The ID Cards Act has now been revoked but NO2ID still has much work to do to halt the Database State. As we move forwards we are looking for a volunteer to take over the stewardship of our regular campaigning newsletter. No previous experience required, just enthusiasm, an ability to write clearly and keep the content focussed on NO2ID’s specific mission. Please contact office@no2id.net if you are interested

What just happened?

+ Identity Cards Act 2006 repealed +

On 21st December the Identity Documents Act became the first Home Office Bill of the new government to pass through Parliament. The act was given Royal Assent at 9.49pm after the House of Lords dropped their amendment asking for compensation for those who had bought ID cards. The act repeals the Identity Cards Act 2006 but re-enacts sections 25, 26 and 38 of the 2006 Act, which created criminal offences relating to fake identity documents. We at NO2ID are of course glad to see the death of the ID Cards scheme for UK citizens and the National Identity Register that it created. However the new Act does retain powers from the original Identity Cards Act which allow the Home Secretary to enact the same enforced data-sharing across government that NO2ID has campaigned against from the beginning. To dismantle the ID Cards scheme but leave in place powers upon which it rested leaves us vulnerable to a resurrection of the scheme.
Read the Lords debate of 21/12/10 at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/101221-0001.htm#10122142000802

+ NO2ID Edinburgh campaigner’s fight against school fingerprinting +

In the run up to Christmas the European Commission raised “significant concerns” with Britain over schools that collect and store children’s fingerprints. At the heart of the story is NO2ID Edinburgh member Chris Halliday – who objected to his daughter being fingerprinted by her school. During recent years Chris has fought doggedly for the privacy of his daughter and her right not to be fingerprinted by her school. NO2ID Edinburgh co-ordinator John Welford said: “When we had a politician as a guest speaker at one of our group meetings Chris would invariably be seen collaring him or her at the end in order to present his case and seek their help.  But he also wrote and spoke to several lawyers, and indeed took his case to the Information Commissioner’s Office.  But all to no avail. Finally, this year he took his case to the European Commission, and thankfully they have taken it very seriously, expressing serious concerns that UK government policy is at present infringing European privacy and data protection legislation.  (There are, of course, close parallels here with the S and Marper case of 2008, in which the European Court of Human Rights unanimously found the previous UK Labour government in breach of Article 8 of the Convention of Human Rights over the retention of DNA profiles of innocent people).” John tells us that some Edinburgh group members will also remember Chris for his spectacular demonstration of robotic street theatre at one of their meetings in June last year, which John says: “was a thrilling, highly professional performance and not one to be forgotten”. So well done Chris – the European Commission’s response is some reward for all your dedication and hard work on behalf of your daughter.  It’s time now for us to see some prompt decisive action from the coalition government…
You can read more about Chris’s story in the following web articles:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/15/school_fingerprinting_eu/
http://tinyurl.com/2drbh3z

+ Scale of Scottish schools fingerprinting revealed +

Freedom of information requests by Robert Brown MSP (Glasgow, Lib Dem) have revealed that 68 schools in Scotland are fingerprinting pupils.
See the Lib Dem press release at:
http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/news/2010/12/lib-dems-reveal-fingerprinting-schools

+ Scottish Government publishes new Identity & privacy guidelines +

At the end of December the Scottish Government published its new Identity Management and Privacy Principles guidelines. The document can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/12/PrivacyPrinciples

What’s next?

+Follow the latest news on twitter+
You can keep up to date with national and local groups news via our @NO2ID twitter feed which is being updated with comments, links, and notification of events and stories.
See http://twitter.com/NO2ID

“ID” in the news

+ ID cards scrapped: official – Professional Security 06/01/11 +
ID cards will be scrapped under the Coalition Government’s first Home Office Bill to pass through Parliament. The Identity Documents Bill received Royal Assent on December 21.
http://www.professionalsecurity.co.uk/newsdetails.aspx?NewsArticleID=15199&imgID=1

+ Civil servants were ‘urged to get families signed up for ID cards’ as scheme flopped – Telegraph 31/12/10 +
UK and overseas border guards refused to recognise the cards – with one traveller chased through an Italian airport after trying to use one as ID.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8231531/Civil-servants-were-urged-to-get-families-signed-up-for-ID-cards-as-scheme-flopped.html

+ Civil servants touted ID cards to friends, family as flop loomed – The Register 31/12/10 +
Civil servants were asked to encourage their family and friends to sign up for now-defunct ID cards amid Whitehall fears the scheme would flop, confidential documents have revealed
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/31/civil_service_id_cards/

+ Revealed: The full shambles of the ID card trial in Greater Manchester – Manchester Evening News 30/12/10 +
Confidential reports into trials of the controversial £30 cards, obtained by the M.E.N., expose for the first time the chaos that surrounded their introduction. The £1bn scheme was launched in Greater Manchester in November last year but proved a hugely expensive failure, with only 13,200 people signing up.
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1404024_revealed_the_full_shambles_of_the_id_card_trial_in_greater_manchester

+ 2011 “much tougher” for NHS IT – eHealth Insider 30/12/10 +
Analysts expect the NHS to stop spending money on IT in 2011; unless it can show that technology will provide a return on investment or efficiency gains in a matter of months.
http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/6525/2011_

+ Biometric ID check of scots schoolchildren as young as four – Daily Express 28/12/10
Dozens of Scottish schools have introduced “intrusive” biometric systems, such as fingerprinting, to identify pupils as young as four.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/219758/Biom…s-four#ixzz19yzcQItN

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter – Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )

To see if there’s a group in your area check our list at http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/
Or, if you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James on local.groups@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved and what we have in place to support coordinators and their groups.

+ Cambridge +

+ 11th February – abolition party +
Friday 11th February. The Cambridge group is planning a celebration now that the Act abolishing the ID Cards scheme has actually passed. All welcome:

Friday 11th February 2011, 8pm at Garden Room, Gillespie Centre, Clare College, (in Clare Memorial Court, between Queen’s Rd and the University Library). Map: http://www.aardvarkmap.net/mape/MK949537

We plan to have free food and drink, and a couple of special guests. More details soon …

+ Camden & Islington +

NEW VENUE CONFIRMED
+ Camden & Islington group meeting +
1st Tuesday of the month, 8.00pm at The New Rose 84-86 Essex Road, Islington.  All welcome.

For more info email camden@no2id.net or join the mailing list at: (http://www.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.camden).

+ Derby +

+ 18th January – Derby NO2ID Meeting +
Derby NO2ID will be holding an informal meeting to start things up again in the Quad, Market Place, Derby at 7.30 Tuesday 18th January.  All are welcome.  Please contact Nick Wray on derby@no2id.net or on 07763 932 176

+ Edinburgh +

+ Saturdays 1pm – 3pm – Edinburgh NO2ID 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/

+ 26th January – NO2ID Edinburgh end of year social +
The Edinburgh group is organising an ‘end of year’ social, which will also be a double celebration.  Not only are we, of course, celebrating the abolition of ID cards, but also member Chris Halliday’s superb success in his long fight against the compulsory fingerprinting of his daughter by her school, and in which the European Commission has recently come out in his support.  The social will take place on Wednesday 26th January from 7pm in the Buffalo Grill bistro at 1 Raeburn Place,  Stockbridge EH4 1HU.  If you wish to join us and reserve a place please contact John (edinburgh@no2id.net).

+ Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire +

Phase II of campaign
Following a helpful meeting with James Elsdon-Baker on Phase II of the NO2ID campaign, ideas are welcome on how to progress the campaign in the Hull and East Yorkshire area – ideas to date include assigning topics between local supporters to keep up a constant presence of letters to local media on local issues and on local/national campaign messages, writing to MPs and local Councillors about database state issues, etc – please email hull@no2id.net if you’d like to take up this idea or have an idea of your own that you’d like to contribute.

+ Leeds +

Please contact Nadine on Leeds@no2id.net or join our mailing list and ask us a question! – http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.leeds

+ Manchester +

For information on Manchester NO2ID see http://manchester.no2id.net/ or contact Dave Page on manchester@no2id.net or 07722 615 398.

+ Norwich +

If you are interested in the work of the Norwich group, please join their mailing list on: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.norwich

+ Sheffield +

+ 26th January – Sheffield NO2ID Meeting +
Wednesday 26th January, 8.30pm at the Harlequin pub, 108 Nursery St, Sheffield, S3 8GG (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=s3+8gg). We meet downstairs in the bar area. We’ll have a NO2ID sign on the table. Please ask the bar staff if you can’t find us.

Please join the Sheffield mailing list If you haven’t already: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.sheffield

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id-supporters

If you have any problems, please send an e-mail to listmaster@no2id.net

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

+ NO2ID Review of the Year +

A few of the key moments from 2010 – and some ways you can help stop the database state in 2011.

JANUARY:  Guy Herbert is nominated for Liberal Voice of the Year. As a trickle of ID card guinea-pigs sign up in the North West, local groups coordinator James Baker goes head-to-head with Home Office Minister for Identity, Meg Hillier on Liverpool radio.

FEBRUARY:  NO2ID protests the launch of ID cards for young people in London. Identity Commissioner Sir Joseph Pilling publishes his annual report on the scheme. A ‘regulator’ without powers, Sir Joseph couldn’t provide NO2ID with a single meaningful agenda item on which to meet.

Thanks to sustained campaigning, only a handful of people volunteered for ID cards. It could have been far worse. The first step in fighting the database state is always to keep informed.

NO2ID staff and volunteers keep abreast of most developments, but we realise that database state issues can be complex. If you would like Phil, Guy or James to address a meeting in your area, or if you are a member of another organisation that may share concerns about the database state, please do get in touch: office@no2id.net

–

MARCH:  The Department for Health pays to send out millions of letters about the Summary Care Record, as a precursor to uploading patients’ details – but fails to include opt-out forms. As part of the ongoing NHS Confidentiality campaign, NO2ID groups across the country provide people with both forms and information.

APRIL:  Following a public vote, ’stop ID cards and the database state’ is adopted as one of Power 2010’s five core pledges. NO2ID groups and supporters hold and attend hustings, asking candidates their intentions on key database state issues.

Are you in touch with your nearest local group? To find out about activities in your area, see http://www.no2id.net/localGroups/ – new members are always welcome. If there isn’t already a group in your area ask James Baker, NO2ID local groups coordinator, about starting your own: local.groups@no2id.net

–

MAY:  Feature documentary ‘Erasing David’ is watched by more than 300,000 on TV, just days before the election. The new government’s Coalition Agreement promises to scrap ID cards and ‘roll back’ the database state.

JUNE:  The first piece of legislation put before Parliament is an Identity Documents Bill to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006. But new Health Minister Simon Burns announces by buried Parliamentary answer that uploads to the Summary Care Record system will continue.

The database state is not just an election issue. The debate must be kept alive, and representatives held to account, year-round. One effective way to do this can be to write a letter to your local newspaper. Be clear and concise. The letters page is the most read part of the paper, and you will reach thousands of people that way.

–

JULY:  After five and a half years in Southbank House, NO2ID moves offices to Tufton St, SW1 – a building shared with a number of small think-tanks and campaign groups. Our new telephone number is 020 7340 6077, but post should still be sent to the Crawford Street box number.

AUGUST: Access to ContactPoint is switched off on 6th August, and the data is securely deleted in subsequent weeks.  News that credit reference agencies are to be given access to DWP data highlights the ever-present danger (and political attraction) of data-mining.

Besides our campaigning, media and outreach work, NO2ID lobbies politicians and industry, provides briefings, responds to consultations and engages civil society on a regular basis. All this costs money and NO2ID needs your support. Generous regular givers fund our small London office and some printing costs, but we need many more.

Please make a donation or, preferably, set up a regular payment: http://www.no2id.net/join

–

SEPTEMBER:  Freedom of Information reveals that 8 out of 9 positive comments on the ID cards website were written by Home Office personnel themselves. NO2ID attends party conferences, speaking at fringe meetings and leafleting delegates to emphasise that there’s still much to be done.

OCTOBER:  NO2ID holds its AGM at its new Tufton Street office. Working with other civil society groups, NO2ID lobbies hard on the UK and EU reviews of data protection and retention of communications data, and organises a roundtable on the upcoming Freedom Bill. We launch our new petition.

NO2ID can only succeed if we keep reaching and engaging new people. You can help. Download and print off a copy of our new petition from http://www.no2id.net/downloads/forms/NO2IDpetition.pdf and use it as a way to get your friends and neighbours talking about the database state and how we can establish positive protections for individual privacy.

Please send completed forms to our London office (address on the form).  Everyone who gives a postal address will be sent a FREE information pack.

–

NOVEMBER: NO2ID holds public meetings in London on smart meters, the DNA database and children’s data. Nick Clegg announces plans to convert the electoral roll into a centralised population register, as part of ‘individual voter registration’.

DECEMBER:  NO2ID wins the ‘Long Walk’ award at Liberty’s 2010 Human Rights Awards, “for their tireless campaign to
publicise the threat to liberty and personal privacy posed by the introduction of ID cards”. The Identity Documents Bill enters ping-pong over refunding money to ID guinea-pigs…

If you received this review directly, you are probably already subscribed to our newsletter – but why not pass it on?

If this review was originally sent to someone else, then please do register as a supporter to get your own e-mail newsletter every fortnight -  there’s a form at http://www.no2id.net. You’ll also receive a FREE supporter’s pack and occasional alerts about NO2ID events in your area.

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id-supporters

If you have any problems, please send an e-mail to listmaster@no2id.net

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

+ A BIG THANK YOU +

As the repeal of the Identity Cards Act and destruction of the National Identity Register draws closer, NO2ID’s battle against the ID scheme was recognised at Liberty’s Human Rights Awards 2010.

Home Secretary Theresa May presented NO2ID National Coordinator Phil Booth with Liberty’s ‘Long Walk’ Award, “for their tireless campaign to publicise the threat to liberty and personal privacy posed by the introduction of ID cards – central to bringing about a Bill to repeal the Identity Cards Act and to scrap ID cards and the National Identity Register.”

(Full list of award winners and short-listed candidates here: http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/about/human-rights-awards/index.php)

In accepting the award on behalf of the campaign, Phil acknowledged the fantastic efforts of NO2ID’s volunteers and supporters – and the battles we are still fighting against the database state.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported the campaign over the past six years and more. It has certainly been a ‘Long Walk’ but by working together we have shown that key elements of the database state *can* be stopped. NO2ID is everyone who has taken action, volunteered, run or joined a local group, donated or become a member and we should all feel justifiably proud of what we have achieved so far.

–

+ Spare us a quid, please +

Do you donate to NO2ID by standing order? Could you spare an extra pound?

Though we are probably the most cost-effective of any campaign groups, running NO2ID still costs money and we rely upon your donations to keep campaigning.  The great majority of our income is from those giving regularly by standing order.  But just one pound could make all the difference.

If everybody who subscribes to this free email were to donate £1, once only, that sum would bear the cost of our office (if not the staff) for a whole year.  If everyone reading this gave £1 a month … It would give a secure base to take the whole campaign to a new level. The effect would be radical.

If you do not donate to NO2ID and would like to help us, please download our membership/donation form from www.no2id.net/join, fill it in and send it back to us, we’ll do the rest. (Or you can just take the bank details from it and instruct your bank directly.) Giving just £2 a month entitles you to become a member, although many give more, and there is no obligation to join; you can simply tick the ‘donate only’ box. All gifts are private, of course. We are not a political party or charity and do not have to identify donors.

What just happened?

+ Identity Documents Bill – House of Lords 3rd Reading +

Last Wednesday (24th November) the Identity Documents Bill (the bill to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006) passed its 3rd Reading in the House of Lords. The proceedings took just two minutes and consisted of Lord Hunt of Kings Heath asking Home Office Minister Baroness Neville-Jones whether the government would honour the Lords one and only amendment to the bill (that ID card holders should get a refund). Jones answered: “My Lords, I believe that this is a matter for the House of Commons.” And with that the bill will now be sent back to the House of Commons for MPs to consider the single amendment, for what it’s worth.
Read the transcript at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2010-11-24a.1116.9

+ Thanks to PledgeBank Donors +

Thanks also to those who have made a donation in response to our PledgeBank notice (newsletter 161). If you would like to help our continuing campaign then please do send a donation to NO2ID PLEDGEBANK, Box 412, 19-21 Crawford Street, London W1H 1PJ or become a member online: http://www.no2id.net/join

+ Heard about the RIPA consultation? Thought not +

Policy makers in the UK have for some time it seems seen consultations as a box ticking formality rather than a serious consideration of the views of the people. The Home Office has come under fire from NO2ID, the Open Rights Group (ORG), Privacy International, ARCHRights, Justice and Genewatch for only allowing a month for a consultation on changes to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The consultation was launched in early November and was due to end 7th December, despite the fact that the Government’s Code of Practice on Consultation states that: “Consultations should normally last for at least 12 weeks with consideration given to longer timescales where feasible and sensible.” In addition the email address given in the consultation document contains a rogue letter x that meant emailed responses bounced. A short statement on the Home Office website says: “We would like to apologise for the difficulties that respondents may have encountered in attempting to send correspondence to us by email. Consequently, we have decided to extend the consultation to 17 December, which will give interested parties an additional 10 days to respond”. The consultation now  closes on 17th December.
Responses by email to (ripa-consentandsanctionconsultation@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) [rogue letter x removed so this *should* work...]. Responses by post to: Lucy Watts, Home Office, 5th Floor Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DE.
See http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/consultations/ripa-effect-lawful-intercep/
For more information on the consultation see https://nodpi.org/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=3314.0

+ Big Brother Watch Book +

Big Brother Watch has released a new book entitled ‘Big Brother Watch: The state of civil liberties in Britain’. The book includes chapters from Terri Dowty of Action on Rights for Children, Simon Davies of Privacy International and NO2ID’s Guy Herbert. Guy’s chapter is subtitled “the silent boom in mass-surveillance” and discusses the National Fraud Initiative and e-Borders. Guy writes: “When were you last a criminal suspect? Most people might indignantly say, “Never!”  But if you are a UK resident (or tourist) it would be when you last took a plane, ferry or Eurostar. Unless that is, if you have ever worked for local government as an employee or a contractor, are a council tenant , council-tax payer, or voter. Then it could be more recent. …”
Get the book at:
http://www.bitebackpublishing.com/uncategorized/hear-ye-hear-ye-yar-civil-liberties-be-under-threat/

What’s next?

+Follow the latest news on twitter+
You can keep up to date with national and local groups news via our @NO2ID twitter feed which is being updated with comments, links, and notification of events and stories.
See http://twitter.com/NO2ID

+ Poster Competition +
Thanks to everyone who has already requested a pack to enter our posters competition. There is still time before Christmas to come up with a design! Please contact James Baker on local.groups@no2id.net or 07817605162 to request a design brief pack which contains details on how to enter.

+ Date TBC – Identity Documents Bill – House of Commons consideration of amendment +
The Identity Documents Bill has now completed its passage through the House of Lords and will next move back to the House of Commons where MPs will consider the single amendment made in the Lords. Follow the bill’s progress at http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/identitydocuments.html

“ID” in the news

+ NAO launches NPfIT investigation – eHealth Insdier 1/12/10 +
The National Audit Office has confirmed that it will launch an investigation into the value of the National Programme for IT in the NHS, focusing specifically on the £546m contract that was awarded to BT last year.
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/6471/nao_launches_npfit_investigation

+ NHS Choices allowing Facebook tracking – eHealth Insider 25/11/10 +
The DH has come under fire for including code on NHS Choices that allow Facebook and Google to track visits and conditions searched for without first informing the user.
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/6454/nhs_choices_allowing_facebook_tracking

+ First Data Protection Act fines issued by commissioner – BBC News 24/11/10 +
A county council that faxed details of a child sex abuse case to a member of the public is to be fined £100,000 for breaching the Data Protection Act.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11821203

+ Six STORK pilots launched to provide electronic identity interoperability across Europe – epractice.eu 17/11/10 +
On 25 October 2010, the Secure idenTity acrOss boRders linKed (STORK) project officially announced the launch of six pilot schemes offering secure electronic identity (eID) cross-border services of different types. These pilots will gradually be enhanced in order to prove and test the integration of the underlying STORK interoperability platform into existing real live portal services.
http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/357137

+ Cabinet Office demands silence over government IT strategy – Computer Weekly 8/11/10 +
The Cabinet Office has asked officials to refrain from talking about the government’s new IT strategy. Despite senior civil servants starting to open up about their plans for the coming months and the possible direction of the strategy, the department says it is normal to keep quiet about unpublished documents.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/11/08/243786/Cabinet-Office-demands-silence-over-government-IT-strategy.htm

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter – Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )

To see if there’s a group in your area check our list at http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/
Or, if you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James on local.groups@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved and what we have in place to support coordinators and their groups.

+ NO2ID goes on tour with Erasing David +
Groups across the country are helping to facilitate a nationwide tour of Erasing David – a documentary about privacy, surveillance and the database state. Phil Booth, our national co-ordinator is hitting the road with David Bond the film maker and producer Ashley Jones to help raise awareness of the victims of the Database State that lie behind the headlines of privacy abuses. Tour Locations:
Manchester – to be confirmed
Glasgow – to be confirmed

+ Cambridge +

+ 11th February – abolition party +
Friday 11th February. The Cambridge group is planning a celebration after the bill abolishing the ID Cards scheme is actually passed. All welcome:

Friday 11th February 2011, 8pm at Garden Room, Gillespie Centre, Clare College, (in Clare memorial court, between Queen’s Rd and the University Library). Map: http://www.aardvarkmap.net/mape/MK949537

We plan to have free food and drink, and a couple of special guests. More details soon …

+ Camden & Islington +

* CHANGE OF VENUE *

+ 7th December – Camden & Islington NO2ID Meeting +
1st Tuesday of the month. 8.00pm at *The Kings Head, 59 Essex Rd, Islington.  All welcome.  *Last month The Kings Head was closed; if it is again then we will be in The New Rose which is at 84-86 Essex Road – very slightly further up (away from Angel) on the opposite side of the road.

For more info email camden@no2id.net or join the mailing list at: (http://www.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.camden).

+ Edinburgh +

+ Saturdays 1pm – 3pm – Edinburgh NO2ID 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/

+ Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire +

Phase II of campaign
Following a helpful meeting with James Elsdon-Baker on Phase II of the NO2ID campaign, ideas are welcome on how to progress the campaign in the Hull and East Yorkshire area – ideas to date include assigning topics between local supporters to keep up a constant presence of letters to local media on local issues and on local/national campaign messages, writing to MPs and local Councillors about database state issues, etc – please email hull@no2id.net if you’d like to take up this idea or have an idea of your own that you’d like to contribute.

+ Leeds +

+ Leeds NO2ID Christmas Stall and Drinks +
Leeds NO2ID will be meeting outside Leeds Museum by the Christmas market to hold a street stall for a couple of hours on 11th December. After the stall we will be heading off around 2pm for our annual Christmas drinks in Mr Foley’s cask ale house. All new and old faces welcome.

Please contact Nadine on Leeds@no2id.net or join our mailing list and ask us a question! – http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.leeds

+ Manchester +

+ 2nd December – Manchester NO2ID Christmas get together +
Manchester NO2ID are having a Christmas get together from 7:30pm in the English Lounge, 64-66 High Street, Manchester on Thursday 2nd December. This is a social event rather than a formal meet and everyone is welcome to come along for a general friendly chat, to discuss the state of the campaign, or alternatively you can just come along for some beer!

For information on Manchester NO2ID see http://manchester.no2id.net/ or contact Dave Page on manchester@no2id.net or 07722 615 398.

+ Norwich +

If you are interested in the work of the Norwich group, please join their mailing list on: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.norwich

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id-supporters

If you have any problems, please send an e-mail to listmaster@no2id.net

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

+ WE DISAGREE WITH NICK +

The Deputy Prime Minister has proposed [1] that from 2014 all voters will have to register themselves, providing “signature, national insurance number and date of birth”, converting the current electoral roll into a centralised population register little different in principle to the ID scheme database. (Mr Clegg omits to mention name and address – who knows what other personal information may be required.)

Systemic abuse of the existing electoral roll already discourages registration and facilitates fraud; sucking up even more personal information can only make this worse. And what other purposes will be found for the new system? History has shown how such bureaucratically-driven registers, and their uses and abuses, only expand over time.

Just as worrying are the ‘cross-matching’ powers to be given to local authorities to track down the unregistered. With echoes of Clause 152 – the Ministry of Justice’s blatant attempt to “overcome the barriers to information sharing across the public sector” which NO2ID helped defeat in 2009 [2] – these new powers would overturn the fundamental data protection principle that information gathered for one purpose may not be used for another without consent.

Individual voter registration does not require a centralised database, any more than ID ever did. The government should be reining in mass data-snooping, not extending and encouraging it. And, given that voting is voluntary, why should councils spend money chasing people onto the electoral roll who don’t want to be there? Will forcing people to register make them more or less likely to vote?

There’s still time to get the government to reconsider its approach, but we need to act NOW.

Please write to your MP – you can do this at http://www.WriteToThem.com – and ask them to oppose councils’ use of their constituents’ personal data without their consent, and the creation of yet another centralised population register.

–
1) Full text of speech:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/news_releases/2010/101116-politicalreform.aspx
2) For a reminder of the battle against Clause 152:
http://www.no2id.net/news/newsletters/newsletter.php?issue=118

What just happened?

+ Identity Documents Bill – House of Lords Report Stage +

On Wednesday (17th November) the Identity Documents Bill (the bill to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006) completed its Report Stage in the House of Lords. Most of the two hour debate was taken up discussing whether ID card holders should be offered a £30 refund. Home Office Minister Baroness Neville-Jones said: “A refund scheme would add 10 per cent to that cost, which we do not consider to be a trivial addition.” But many Lords felt that particularly young and old people that bought a card would suffer. To this Baroness Neville-Jones said: “We should not exaggerate the significance of all this. Much has been made of the elderly and the very young. We have no reliable demographic information at all on who the purchasers were.” This seems a little odd, since one would imagine that the one thing an Identity Card system would have is detailed information about those people who were issued cards and that date of birth would have been stored. Perhaps this was an admission that ID cards are useless. Eventually peers decided to vote on an amendment to offer refunds which was passed by 220 in favour to 188 against. All further proposed amendments to the bill were not moved or withdrawn, so the bill will move to 3rd Reading with just the one amendment. None of the problems with the bill highlighted by NO2ID and others were addressed. A special mention goes to Labour peer Lord Maxton who, completely casting aside the views of the people, was at great pains to claim the inevitability of ID cards, he said: “A friend of mine described the Bill as the King Canute Bill; in other words, it is doing away with something – identity cards – which, in a relatively short time, whatever Government are in power, will have to be reintroduced. That is almost inevitable.”
Watch the debate (32m 49 secs in) at: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=6956
Read the debate transcript at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/101117-0001.htm#10111743000857
NO2ID’s Commons 2nd Reading briefing is at:
http://www.no2id.net/IDSchemes/2010-06-08-identity-documents-bill-briefing.pdf

+ Summary Care Records Statistics published +

The Connecting for Health website has published statistics relating to the controversial NHS Summary Care Records (SCRs). The new government pledged to scrap the SCR but has since broken that pledge and is continuing the SCR roll-out. According to the website 3,528,914 SCRs have been created (double the number since the government launched its reviews in June), the number of patients who have received a letter explaining the SCR through a Public Information Programme is 29,803,669 and the percentage of patients that have opted out from having an SCR created is 1.13%, with the caveat that “opt out figure reported only for those practices that have submitted data on opt out figures”.
See http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/scr/staff/aboutscr/benefits/scrkey
Link to NO2ID’s opt-out form:
http://www.no2id.net/downloads/SCR_optout_sheet.pdf

+ School fingerprinting concerns +

Action on Rights for Children (ARCH) has published its response to government proposals on the use of pupils’ fingerprints in schools. The document states: “We welcome the fact that the Department intends to require the consent of both parent and child before any fingerprint can be taken by a school. We believe that dual consent is the right approach, and should like to see it used far more widely where children’s data is involved.” ARCH goes on to highlight several areas of concern such as “that parents and children have the  right to withdraw consent at any time to the ongoing retention of biometric data” and that consent should be informed consent. ARCH has also published a report on Schools and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, which was sent to the Information Commissioner’s Office. When ARCH asked schools for information under FOI in 2007 they got just a 12% response rate and when they repeated the exercise in 2008, the response rate was still only 25%.
See http://www.archrights.org.uk/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&download=18:p-p-2010&id=6&Itemid=23
and
http://www.archrights.org.uk/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&download=17&id=6&Itemid=23

What’s next?

+ Poster Competition +

When campaigning against ID cards many groups made their own posters to help get the message across. We thought it would be a good idea for groups and supporters to get together to design and test their own posters for use in the next phase of our campaign. You can then submit
your poster design to us and we will print the best ones and publish them on the website.

Please contact James Baker on local.groups@no2id.net or 07817605162 to request a design brief pack which contains details on how to enter.

+ NOTICE – Pledgebank +

In late 2005, when the ID Cards Bill was being pushed through Parliament, over 11,000 people signed NO2ID’s pledge to refuse to register for an ID card and to donate £10 to a legal defence fund to assist those who challenged the Scheme. When we called in the pledge in November 2007 thousands of people donated and the money has been held in a dedicated bank account, untouched.

The Coalition is now scrapping ID cards and the National Identity Register, and the Identity Cards Act 2006 will soon be repealed. The compulsion to register was never imposed and has ceased to be a likelihood for the foreseeable future, but the bureaucratic obsession with ID, mass surveillance and information trafficking goes on.

We therefore give notice that NO2ID intends to cease to hold a separate legal defence fund when the Identity Documents Bill, the repealing legislation, has passed both Houses, and to apply the funds to the general purposes of the campaign against the database state.

Much was given anonymously. The administrative cost of identifying and tracing everyone who gave by name could easily exceed the amount given. But we will respect your wishes if you were only against ID cards and do not want your donation used in our future fight against the database state.

If you gave and would like your pledge returned write to NO2ID PLEDGEBANK, Box 412, 19-21 Crawford Street, London W1H 1PJ with evidence of your donation.

If you would like to help our continuing campaign to:

• STOP all unnecessary collection by government of personal information about law-abiding residents of the United Kingdom;
• STOP sharing of personal information between government bodies, or its use for new purposes, without the genuine, informed consent of the persons concerned or a specific warrant from a court;
• BUILD positive protections in law for individual privacy; and
• CREATE a right to compensation for unauthorised use of personal information;

then you can of course send a further donation to the same address.

+ 24th November – Identity Documents Bill 3rd Reading House of Lords +
The Identity Documents Bill has now completed its passage through the House of Commons and will next move on to its 3rd Reading in the House of Lords. Follow the bill’s progress at http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/identitydocuments.html

+ November – Database State talks, London +
Former Hammersmith local coordinator Brian Mooney has organised some autumn talks on aspects of the database state – see the local groups section below.

“ID” in the news

+ Government suffers Lords defeat over ID card refunds – BBC News 17/11/10 +
The government has been defeated in the Lords over its refusal to offer people who bought ID cards a refund. Ministers are legislating to scrap ID cards but 12,000 people had already bought one, at a cost of £30 each.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11781783

+ SCR patient campaign set to restart – eHealth Insider 16/11/10 +
Public Information Programmes for the Summary Care Record are to restart before Christmas following a five month suspension. The Department of Health has told EHI Primary Care that a small number of PIPs will be launched before Christmas and that PIPs will restart in full in the New Year.
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/6423/scr_patient_campaign_set_to_restart

+ Storm over Big Brother plan to fingerprint primary pupils – Daily Express 13/11/10 +
Schools are preparing children as young as five for the Big Brother society, it was claimed yesterday. The warning came as the Scottish Government issued guidelines to councils and schools on biometric data such as fingerprints and palm-recognition systems.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/211317/Storm-over-Big-Brother-plan-to-fingerprint-primary-pupils

+ Big Business is watching you – ComputerWorld 13/11/10 +
While you watch screens, screens will watch you. Even Orwell and Huxley didn’t predict this, or did they?
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9196333/Elgan_Big_Business_is_watching_you

+ How ID card database will be destroyed – BBC News 10/11/10 +
Identity cards may be history for British citizens – but what about all the personal details collected by the government and stored on its national identity database?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11719764

+ Government will shred ID card data – The Register 8/11/10 +
The IPS plans to order Thales and 3M SPSL to shred the hard disks and back-up tapes holding the personal information on the National Identity Register (NIR), according to a document released through Parliament’s library.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/08/government_will_shred_id_card_data/print.html

+ Government to begin shredding ID card data – ZDNet 9/11/10 +
The Identity and Passport Service’s destruction plans reveal that some personal ID data may have mistakenly stayed on enrolment office systems.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/regulation/2010/11/09/government-to-begin-shredding-id-card-data-40090796/

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter – Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )

To see if there’s a group in your area check our list at http://www.no2id.net/localgroups/
Or, if you’re interested in starting a group yourself, please contact James on local.groups@no2id.net to discuss what’s involved and what we have in place to support coordinators and their groups.

+ NO2ID goes on tour with Erasing David +
Groups across the country are helping to facilitate a nationwide tour of Erasing David – a documentary about privacy, surveillance and the database state. Phil Booth, our national co-ordinator is hitting the road with David Bond the film maker and producer Ashley Jones to help raise awareness of the victims of the Database State that lie behind the headlines of privacy abuses. Tour Locations:
Manchester – to be confirmed
Glasgow – to be confirmed

+ Cambridge +

The Cambridge group is planning a celebration after the bill abolishing the ID Cards scheme is actually passed. This now seems likely to be on either Friday 4th February or Friday 11th February. Watch this space for details…

+ Camden & Islington +

* CHANGE OF VENUE *

+ 7th December – Camden & Islington NO2ID Meeting +
1st Tuesday of the month. 8.00pm at *The Kings Head, 59 Essex Rd, Islington.  All welcome.  *Last month The Kings Head was closed; if it is again then we will be in The New Rose which is at 84-86 Essex Road – very slightly further up (away from Angel) on the opposite side of the road.

For more info email camden@no2id.net or join the mailing list at: (http://www.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.camden).

+ Edinburgh +

+ 22nd November – Edinburgh NO2ID discussion meeting +
ID cards are being scrapped but the government’s obsession with collecting and sharing personal data, on travel, email, telephone usage, medical records, etc continues unabated.  The Edinburgh group will hold a discussion meeting at 7.00pm on Monday 22 November in the Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL to consider its future strategy.  All welcome.

+ Saturdays 1pm – 3pm – Edinburgh NO2ID 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/

+ Leeds +

+ Leeds NO2ID Christmas Stall and Drinks +
Leeds NO2ID will be meeting outside Leeds Museum by the Christmas market to hold a street stall for a couple of hours on the 11th of December. After the stall we will be heading off around 2pm for our annual Christmas drinks in Mr Foley’s cask ale house. All new faces welcome.

Please contact Nadine on Leeds@no2id.net or join our mailing list and ask us a question! – http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.leeds

+ London +

+ Database State talks – London +
Former Hammersmith local coordinator Brian Mooney has organised some autumn talks on aspects of the database state. More info: 020 7385 9757 / brian@newalliance.org.uk

The new government promised to respect civil liberties, but still proposes to keep masses of personal data on people who are innocent of any crime. This is particularly true of the national DNA database, but many parents are unaware of, for example, plans to extend fingerprinting in schools or the amount of data that has been kept on children and young people. Come and hear some top speakers who will shed light on the issues.

Monday, 22nd November, 7pm prompt start
Terri Dowty, ARCH – ‘Children’s Databases’
Helen Wallace, Genewatch – ‘National DNA Database’

Venue:
Bertrand Russell Room, Conway Hall;
25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
http://www.conwayhall.org.uk/where.htm
NB This is not a train strike day)

For more info, please ring 07976 414913.

+ Manchester +

For information on Manchester NO2ID see http://manchester.no2id.net/ or contact Dave Page on manchester@no2id.net or 07722 615 398.

+ Norwich +

If you are interested in the work of the Norwich group, please join their mailing list on: http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.norwich

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id-supporters

If you have any problems, please send an e-mail to listmaster@no2id.net

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