Launch of Hull and East Riding branch of NO2ID

Politicians in Hull joined forces with local NO2ID activists earlier this week to officially launch the Hull and East Riding branch of NO2ID.

A chilly but bright Monday morning in Queen Victoria Square, Hull City Centre, was the venue for the launch event. The Liberal Democrats were represented by a total of six councillors, including Carl Minns and Abi Bell, the Leader and Deputy Leader of Hull City Council. The Tory presence was provided by John Fareham, leader of the Conservative Group on the Council, while Martin Deane, PPC for Hull North in the forthcoming General Election, flew the flag for the Green Party. Unfortunately no-one from Labour was able – or willing – to come and show their support.

All who attended signed the NO2ID petition and spoke to large numbers of passers-by who were attracted by the crowd and the colourful stall, many of whom themselves then signed up in support. The event had already been covered by the Yorkshire Post, while on the day a journalist from Viking FM interviewed Martin Deane and Cllr Minns.

James Russell from Hull and East Riding NO2ID said “the event was a success, although we would have liked to have seen some more interest from the local news media – we were only just around the corner from the BBC! Still, we’ve put the issue of ID Cards and the Database State on the radar locally, especially with local party activists – no doubt the message that this is a key issue for many people will find its way to those who will be putting their names forward as potential MPs in the General Election.“

Hull and East Riding NO2ID hope to follow up this launch with an election hustings event some time in April, possibly in conjunction with the Power 2010 Pledge organisers. Watch this space!

Privacy fears raised as NHS project comes to Yorkshire & Humber

Yorkshire NO2ID press release
For Immediate Release
2/3/09

Doctors’ organisations and privacy campaigners are raising privacy concerns as patients medical details are about to be uploaded onto a centralised database. Connecting for Health is currently sending letters to people across the region via their Primary Care Trusts, informing them of ‘changes to your health records’.[2]

The changes (i.e. Summary Care Records) are presented as necessary and inevitable, and people are only being given a limited time to opt out (around 12 weeks from receipt of the letter), Privacy campaigners claim they shift control of health information from medical professionals to the State and will result in sensitive personal details being uploaded onto a centralised system accessible to hundreds of thousands of people - not just doctors, but anyone “required by statute” (i.e. government data-sharing), with a court order (e.g. the police) or “in the public interest”, which could include medical researchers.

John May from the British Medical Associations Patient Liaison Group said: “There needs to be a higher profile national information campaign to ensure everyone can make an informed choice about whether or not they want to be included.

“We also think it is important that opting-out is made easier. At the moment there’s no opt-out form in the patient information packs being sent to patients across the country.”[3]

James Elsdon-Baker North of England coordinator for the NO2ID campaign said:
“If people do nothing or fail to respond within the deadline, their personal details and potentially highly sensitive medical information, such as their last six months’ prescriptions, are uploaded onto a Summary Care Record. Once an SCR has been viewed, it will never be deleted from the system.  We would encourage people to opt out now, as if they change their minds a records can always be created at a later date.”

Campaigners have set-up an information website www.thebigoptout.org where an opt-out form and further information can be obtained. [4]

-Ends-

Notes to Editor
1) NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the database state. See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate for a list of ‘database state’ initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing, and http://www.no2id.net/datasharing for how it all fits together.
2) A copy of connecting to health’s information leaflet can be found here.
3) The Full BMA press release can be read here.
4) The Big Opt Out campaign was set up to protect patient confidentiality and to provide a focus for patient-led opposition the government’s NHS Care Records System. It is supported by NO2ID.

For further comment or immediate interview please contact:
James Elsdon-Baker ‘ North of England coordinator NO2ID on north@no2id.net 07817 605162
Phil Booth (National Co-ordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net) on 07974 230 839
Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308
Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166

Yorkshire NO2ID press releaseFor Immediate Release 2/3/09

Privacy Campaigners give thumbs up to new documentary

Privacy campaigns from the Sheffield group of NO2ID are giving their thumbs up to a new feature documentary Erasing David which is being premiered as part of the Doc/Fest Sheffield Film Festival this week. The film follows the life of filmmaker David Bond, who upon receiving a letter from HMRC informing him that his daughter’s details were amongst the 25 million lost by the child benefit office, embarks on a journey to discover just how much information is held about him by government and private companies. David soon discovers some alarming truths about what the government and private companies already know about ordinary citizens. He meets people who have been caught in the crossfire of the database state and have had their lives shattered.

James Elsdon-Baker North of England co-ordinator for NO2ID said:

“This film is important as it gives us a window through which we can reflect upon type of society we are creating. Sadly things are going to get a lot worse if the National Identity Scheme is allowed to continue. Even more data will be collected and then shared around Whitehall. We won’t be putting our thumbs up any time soon to have our prints taken, but we will certainly be putting them up in support of this film.”

Producer Ashley Jones said:

“We are very proud to have te endorsement of NO2ID for our film, Erasing David, and are proud to be working with their networks to get the film out there over the coming months ahead of a screening on Channel 4 in 2010. We set out to make an engaging documentary that would appeal to a mass audience who in the past may have struggled to connect with the issue of privacy. The mountain of data being accumulated and centralised by the government is epic in scope and relevant to us all, and, as the film shows, this can be devastating when misapplied. We hope Erasing David is a timely clarion call to those of us interested in guarding our civil liberties in an increasingly invasive digital age.”

Campaigners will greet people on their way into the screening with giant mock ID cards and participating with the film makers in a questions and answers session after the film.

The film will premiere as part of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival at 7.30pm on the 6th November at the Library Theatre, further details about this film and the Doc/Fest film festival can be found at www.sheffdocfest.com

To watch the ERASING DAVID trailer visit: www.erasingdavid.com

Government announces Sheffield “home interrogation squad”

The Government announced this week that Sheffield will be home to a new UKBA Service mobile interrogation squad. Based at Vulcan House, Millsands, the team will target those required to have an Identity Card but who cannot attend an interrogation centre in person.

The inquisitorial team will visit people’s homes to perform an “intrusive interview”, which will include taking 3D photographs and finger scans. The taking of retina scans and DNA samples is also allowed for in legislation.

No2ID Sheffield is concerned about the Government’s campaign to coerce vulnerable people onto the National Identity Register. How will the public be able to tell genuine interrogators from fraudsters trying to gain access to their homes and identities? There is also a risk that remote terminals will make it easier for corrupt employees to register fake IDs.

Sheffield No2ID co-ordinator Richard Belbin said, “Those deliberately targeted by this team will have their identities appropriated free of charge, but the Government also plans to sell to the rest of us the ‘privilege’ of being interrogated in our own homes, or places of work. Perhaps they hope such ‘premium services’ will help to meet the estimated £4.5 Bn cost of the scheme. However, in the depths of the worst recession since records began, ID cards stand out as a gratuitous waste of money and liberty. The scheme should be scrapped immediately.”

Don’t be a Guinea Pig – Campaign Launch

Campaigners journey over to Oldham for launch of campaign

Today saw the launch of our new ‘Don’t be a Guinea Pig’ Campaign to warn people in Manchester and the Northwest about the dangers of the ID Scheme. Folk from Yorkshire where out and about in Oldham, Stockport and Rochdale joining forces with local NO2ID supporters to help get the message out to more people then ever.

Stop the ID card Con

The following two weekends mark the start of our new ‘Stop the ID Con’ campaign. Campaigners from around the region will be heading over to Greater Manchester to warn people not to sign up for a voluntary card. It’s always been the Government’s intention to launch a voluntary scheme, and only make the cards compulsory when a large chunk of the population has signed up to the scheme. Just as Gordon Brown grandstands about ID cards not being compulsory, the IPS has launched a new advertising campaign. The aim of this campaign is to encourage businesses to accept ID cards as a valid form of ID. As more organizations start to recognize ID cards it will become harder and harder to life your life without one. Whilst the scheme will be ‘voluntary’ many people will be conned onto the register, and once on it you can’t get off it.

This Saturday members of Leeds and Bradford groups will be getting the train over to Rochdale to run a stall in the town, members of Sheffield NO2ID will be heading over to hold a stall in Oldham and Selby will be running a stall in Stockport. If you would like to join them then send an email through to yorkshire@no2id.net

Then the following weekend on the 17th we are planning a day of action on Manchester City Centre, this will compose of numerous street stalls and public meeting at 3.30pm in the Friends meeting house on Mount Street. Our National coordinator Phil Booth will be speaking so if you have any questions or want to help get together with other people and plan our joint opposition to the scheme now is the time to do so.

Yorkshire pulls together to oppose Manchester rollout

Like you we are back from our Holidays and looking to get stuck into an active session of opposing ID cards. It’s clear that ID cards are being pushed ahead despite the continued opposition. Only this week James Hall head of IPS was claiming ID cards would become the main form of proving age for buying drinks in your local pub, and with some shops starting to ID pensioners don’t think those gray hairs will save you from needing to produce a card!

The scheme is launching in Manchester this Autumn, and we will be doing everything we can to campaign against it. If we can beat it back in Manchester we can stop it spreading. Now more than ever though we do however need your help. If you have been involved in the campaign but drifted away, this pre-election period is a crucial stage in which we can oppose ID cards and protect our liberty.

We have a number of meetings for local groups accross the region, in these meetings we will be planning what we can do to help oppose the scheme’s rollout in Manchester. So check out our events page and get involved!

+ MANCHESTER ALERT – DON’T BE A GUINEA PIG +

The Home Secretary’s summer re-launch of ID cards targeted Manchester as
a “beacon area” for the roll-out of the first cards. Having backed down
from a fight with airport workers and pilots threatening industrial
action over compulsory ID registration, the Home Office is now trying to
solicit volunteers.

Of course, people don’t always read the small print – so we need to
ensure that any ‘volunteers’ realise that registering for a card means
being tagged and tracked for the rest of their lives. And paying for the
privilege of being Whitehall’s guinea pigs.

The fewer that sign up, the easier it should be to scrap the whole scheme.

NO2ID is launching a rolling campaign to alert and inform the people of
Manchester and – as the National Identity Scheme’s net widens – the
North West, starting with a day of action on Saturday 10th October.
NO2ID groups and supporters from around the UK will be heading to
selected locations in Greater Manchester to hold street stalls, leaflet
and spread the word.

The following Saturday, 17th October, we shall be running more street
stalls in central Manchester and holding a public meeting at the Friends
Meeting House in Mount Street. Further activities and events will be
announced in due course.

ID cards to be linked to police records for millions

It has been revealed that Millions of people working in education in health or as volunteers could come under pressure to be fingerprinted and obtain a national ID card.

Research by online IT magazine The Register has uncovered proposals to use ID cards and the national database behind them to support Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks – which are due to be extended to many more categories of people.

From October this year people working in all sort of roles will be compelled to be registered with a new vetting body the Independent Safeguarding Authority, which may eventually keep tabs on around 11 million workers and volunteers at any one time. ‘Enhanced’ CRB checks mean not just criminal records, but police intelligence files containing suspicions, opinions and unsubstantiated allegations, may be used for the purpose.

To make this massive administrative task a manageable one, officials are aiming to use the Home Office’s ID database, which is going ahead. ID records and police intelligence records would end up connected for millions. One of the most frightening predictions of campaigners against ID cards – that the ID *scheme* will be an easy reference to all official files and a key to the most private information about every one of us – could be coming true before a single ID card has
been issued.

Phil Booth, National Coordinator of NO2ID [3] said: ‘This is entirely consistent with the various forms of coercion strategy they’ve been working on to create so-called volunteers for ID cards. ‘Biometrics are part of the search for clean, unique identifiers. But
it’s patently ridiculous given another part of the plan has people registering fingerprints in high street shops.’

Guy Herbert, General Secretary of NO2ID said:

‘Ministers are always quick to point out the ID database itself will not contain criminal records. The covert programme unearthed by The Register shows what a fatuous piece of misdirection that is. If the CRB gets its way, then for millions of people their ID card would be directly LINKED to a detailed police record and a scoring system designed to evaluate their suitability for various jobs.’

ID cards easily electronically forged

Technical expert Adam Laurie has demonstrated copying, cloning and changing details on the biometric visa cards being issued by the government to foreign nationals – the same technology that is to be used for the UK ID scheme.

This is just the latest in a series of ‘hacking’ exercises showing the technical insecurity of the Identity and Passport Service’s products. Officials have repeatedly declared them impossible, despite clear evidence and open demonstrations for the press. The very information most useful to identity thieves and fraudsters is made more vulnerable by using microchips *designed* to broadcast your personal details for official convenience.

NO2ID today condemned the Home Office for knowingly making ‘ID theft’ asier, ignoring dangerous vulnerabilities in the ID card as it pursues its Real goal – the universal population register that would give officials unprecedented control of our lives, and make the Home Office king in
Whitehall.

Phil Booth, National Coordinator of NO2ID said:

‘This shows up the big con. The Home Office doesn’t really care about ‘ID theft’, or it wouldn’t be pushing technology that any competent crook can subvert.

‘The ID-obsessed officials are putting our personal information at risk in their scramble to control it. They want to build a population register – the database for which the card is just a Trojan horse. It doesn’t matter how shoddy the card itself is, or what it costs the public.’

The ID con: Manchester Says No

As the Home Secretary attempted yet another relaunch of the hated National Identity Scheme in Manchester today, NO2ID announces its launching a major new information campaign this autumn, as people in Manchester and the North-West prepare to become the guinea-pigs in the Government’s first attempt at a regional rollout of the National Identity Scheme anywhere in the UK.

The populations of so-called ‘Beacon Areas’ in the North-West, including Manchester, will be encouraged to register voluntarily on the scheme, which will require them to hand over their fingerprints and consent to having their personal data held on the National Identity Database for life.
In response to the Government’s action, NO2ID has pledged to work with the local media, trade unions, students’ organisations, community groups, Manchester City Councillors and MPs to explain exactly what
this could mean for the lives, families and jobs of the population of Manchester and beyond.

At the beginning of October, NO2ID will be holding a series of events, meetings and protests in the city, aiming to raise awareness and allow the people of the North-West a voice in defending their way of life
from this intrusive scheme.

In the coming weeks a new website will be publicising all aspects of the campaign, encouraging individuals, groups and communities to come together and plan their contribution.

Dave Page, NO2ID North-West regional co-ordinator, said:

‘What they’re keeping quiet is that once you are on that database, you can never come off it. From the moment you’re registered you’ll have to tell the authorities of any change in your circumstances for the
rest of your life – and pay whatever fees they ask for the ‘service’. You’ll never know who’s looking at your details. It won’t protect our safety. It won’t be convenient – except for
Whitehall. This scheme is an expensive and dangerous con. The people
of Manchester aren’t stupid, Sir Humphrey.’

Phil Booth, National Co-ordinator for NO2ID, said:

‘People in the North West are smart enough to read the small print. Once you’re on the ID database you’ll never be free – you’ll be locked in for life. Inform yourself, inform others. Don’t be a guinea-pig.
Together we can beat this insidious scheme.’