NO2ID at the party conferences and more news

south west | protests | news report Thursday August 14, 2008 17:12 by no2ID supporter

Including a list of local South West groups.

Say no to the Database state.

NO2ID News No. 104

14 August 2008
++ NO2ID AT THE PARTY CONFERENCES ++

Once again NO2ID will be holding fringe meetings at the party conferences taking place this year, which will take place in September/October. We will be holding a TUC fringe meeting in Brighton on Monday 8th September at the Brighthelm Centre, chaired by our Union Liaison Christina Zaba. We have a presence at the Green conference and our General Secretary, Guy Herbert, will be speaking at fringe meetings at the Liberal Democrat and UKIP conferences, both in Bournemouth. At the Conservative conference in Birmingham we have a stall (highly prized, now the Conservatives are widely seen as winners by lobbyists) on the Home Affairs day, and we will be at the Labour conference in Manchester.

Volunteers for all these events are needed. If you are available to help at one or other English Party conference please contact office@no2id.net or the relevant NO2ID local group. If you can help at Scottish Party conferences please contact NO2ID Scotland (scotland@no2id.net), and we would be delighted to hear from people involved in Welsh or Irish politics (particularly the latter where our contacts need developing) - email (office@no2id.net).

Conference details:

Green: 5th - 8th September, School of Oriental and African Studies, London
UKIP: 5th - 6th September, Bournemouth International Centre
TUC Congress: 8th - 11th September, Brighton Centre
Plaid Cymru: 11th - 13th September, Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
Liberal Democrats: 13th - 17th September, Bournemouth International Centre
SNP: 16th - 19th September, Perth Concert Hall
Labour: 20th - 24th September, Manchester Central (formerly GMEX)
Conservatives: 28th September - 1st October, Birmingham International Convention Centre

What's next?

+ 14th August - NO2ID London Social +
We will be having another NO2ID social on Thursday 14th August 2008 from 6.30pm.
It will be at The Old Crown, 33 New Oxford Street, WC1H 1BH (please note, it's not at The Crown but The *Old* Crown). Meet the organisers, ask questions, get involved, have a pint. Everyone is welcome whether a member, supporter, sympathiser or even Home Office minister.
Enquires to Harry Metcalf: london@no2id.net

+ Consultation on Data Retention Directive +
The government has launched a consultation on the Electronic Communications Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations. Responses should be sent by 31st October by e-mail to commsdata@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or by post to Andrew Knight, Home Office, 5th Floor, Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.
See http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2008-transp...inary

+ 8th September — NO2ID at TUC Congress +
Monday, 8th September at the Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1YD. NO2ID will be holding a fringe meeting to discuss the imminent impact of the ID scheme and what can be done about it. Chair: Christina Zaba, NO2ID Union Liaison. Speakers: TBC. Doors open at 6:30pm for a 7:00pm start.
+ LOCAL GROUPS NEWS +
We now have local groups in 44 of the 69 proposed locations for interrogation centres - of which just 3 have yet to open. Parliamentary answers indicate that the most active centres are: Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Newport, Peterborough and Sheffield.

For information on your nearest interrogation centre, see http://www.no2id.net/getInvolved/idCentres.php. If you can help set up a local group in one of the remaining locations, or anywhere else in the UK, please contact Matty on local.groups@no2id.net

Local South West Groups links;
http://www.no2id.net/localGroups/#South%20West
-
What just happened?

+ E-Passports Cracked Again +
Back in 2006 NO2ID worked with security expert Adam Laurie to demonstrate insecurities in the new ‘ePassport’ that has been issued by the UK Identity and Passport Service since then. The passport contains a chip which holds information about the passport holder. Laurie was able to read data from an e-passport without even taking it out of the envelope it was delivered in. Now a Dutch hacker, Jeroen van Beek, has shown that it is possible to create a fake chip, which could then be put it in a legitimate passport. Last month 3,000 blank e-passports were stolen from the back of a van. The e-passport is a worldwide standard created by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) after pressure from the United States in 2001. Since their introduction the chipped passports have been the subject of much controversy. The new passports were introduced in the UK under royal prerogative (without the need of consultation, debate or legislation). If the government want the UK ID card to act as a "passport lite" then they will put the same chip into the cards. The Identity and Passport service have also talked about storing fingerprints on the chip - claiming that it is necessary to comply with Europe and/or International Standards. As we have reported previously fingerprints are not part of any standard with which the government must comply.

+ Government responds to 'A Surveillance Society?' report +
The government has released its response to the Home Affairs Committee's 'A surveillance society?' inquiry which produced its report in June (see NO2ID Newsletter 100). On their widespread data-sharing agenda the government says that there are safeguards in the Data Protection Act and: "As this has already been debated in Parliament, we do not feel that a Parliamentary debate is required every time these principles are applied to a new Government proposal". On Biometrics linked to the National Identity Register the response says: "Biometric information will be encrypted from the moment it is enrolled right through to the Register" - this is an interesting claim in light of the cracking of the e-passport. Meanwhile the response tries to allay fears about ContactPoint, the database that will hold details of every child in England, by saying that it will "be like a computer based phone book".
Read the response at: http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm74/7449...9.pdf

+ New novel looks as the Database State +
Bestselling author Jeffery Deaver has written a new novel that takes a look at the ever growing Database State. In 'The Broken Window' Deaver uses the threat of government databases as the main basis for the book. Deaver even ends the novel with some notes to assist readers in making contact with anti-ID organisations, and recommends 'No Place to Hide', by Robert O'Harrow Jr (See www.noplacetohide.net). Deaver is best known for his Lincoln Rhyme novels (one of which was turned into the film 'The Bone Collector' starring Denzel Washington). Hopefully the book will help to make a larger audience aware of the some of the issues we are campaigning against.

"ID" in the news

+ Government publishes new, wider Data Retention Regulations - Out-Law 14/8/08 +
The Government has published a draft law that mandates the retention of data by internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies. The proposed Regulations will replace an earlier law that applied to non-internet data only.
http://www.out-law.com/page-9350

+ Spy fear over e-mail check planA computer keyboard - BBC News Online 13/8/08 +
Plans to give local councils and other public bodies the power to monitor e-mail and internet traffic have been branded a "snoopers' charter".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7557963.stm

+ Health bodies could access communication logs - e-Health Insider 13/8/08 +
Public bodies, including health authorities, could be able to access information about all personal calls and internet use under proposals from the Home Office.
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/4055/health_bodies_could_access_communication_logs

+ Irish bus pass is ‘identity card by stealth’ - The Times 10/8/08 +
The new travel pass could evolve to let the state watch our every move. In Ireland, the “soft” introduction of the public services card has caused barely a stir.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/art...8.ece

+ Scots schoolchildren to be fingerprinted in controversial ID scheme - Glasgow Sunday Mail 10/8/08 +
More than 8000 pupils are to have their fingerprints taken so they can be tracked by teachers. Controversial biometric fingerprinting will be introduced to eight secondary schools in the biggest experiment of its type in Scotland. But parents yesterday attacked the scheme, saying there are few controls over who can access the fingerprint database.
http://tinyurl.com/6qwcqx

+ E-Passports Signed, Sealed, Delivered -- But Not Like You May Think - Wired 8/8/08 +
Two years ago security researcher Lukas Grunwald showed how the chips in new electronic passports could easily be cloned. Grunwald's attack, however, was limited in that he hadn't found a way to alter data on the tag in a manner that could not be detected. Data on passport chips is hashed and digitally signed by the issuing country. Changing data on the passport chip would change the hash, indicating that the chip had been manipulated and thus invalidating it.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/e-passports-cr....html

+ Passports: This isn’t supposed to happen: how a baby became bin Laden - The Times 6/8/08 +
Jeroen van Beek takes the passport of a 16-month-old British boy and puts it on to a £40 smartcard reader the size of an iPod. He punches a code into his computer and, within seconds, the information contained in the passport’s microchip appears on screen.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4...8.ece

+ Big problems hit Royal Free's Cerner care records roll-out - ComputerWeekly 5/8/08 +
Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, whose staff treat 500,000 patients a year from around the world, has run into "significant" problems including system crashes, delays booking patient appointments and data missing in records.
http://tinyurl.com/5ryp39