No2ID Newsletter No.132

bristol | policing | news report Friday September 25, 2009 11:27 by no2id supporter

no 2 the database state!!

+ PATRONISING HYPE FOR ID SCHEME +

The UK Identity and Passport Service (UK-IPS) will unveil a marketing
campaign for its ID scheme tomorrow (Friday 25th September) based on
animated fingerprint characters. The Home Office is propagandising
*businesses* rather than the general public in an attempt to give the
impression that the ID scheme is moving forwards whilst in reality
nothing much is actually happening.

+ PATRONISING HYPE FOR ID SCHEME +

The UK Identity and Passport Service (UK-IPS) will unveil a marketing
campaign for its ID scheme tomorrow (Friday 25th September) based on
animated fingerprint characters. The Home Office is propagandising
*businesses* rather than the general public in an attempt to give the
impression that the ID scheme is moving forwards whilst in reality
nothing much is actually happening.

You may not see the advertising as it targeted at traders, but it is
your money paying for it. The insulting animated fingerprints campaign
is aimed at persuading retailers who have to comply with age
restrictions that ID cards are a fait accompli and that there is public
demand. The opposite is the case. ID cards are going to be vanishingly
rare for a long time to come, and it would be a foolish businessman who
changed anything he did because of them – particularly since it is
*unlawful* to demand to be shown someone’s ID card without giving them a
reasonable alternative – and most people who might be affected already
have plenty of alternatives in the form of PASS cards as well as driving
licenses, etc.

What’s next?

** *+ POWER2010 campaign wants your ideas +*
NO2ID supporters are invited to contribute ideas for the POWER2010
campaign, which will set out a reforming agenda at the next general
election. Naturally NO2ID would like ideas about curtailing the
database state to feature, but you are certainly not limited to that.
You can contribute ANY ideas for governmental reform on the campaign’s
website at: http://www.power2010.org.uk

Perhaps you have a solution to departments using phoney consultation
processes to railroad through a pre-determined policy. Or it might be
limits on the use of statutory instruments, which have allowed the
government to extend the use of ID cards without parliamentary scrutiny.
Perhaps you have a way for us all to maintain ownership of our personal
information. You decide. The only requirement is that it should be about
improving the way our democracy works and how the decisions are made
that affect our lives.

The ideas with most support will become the POWER2010 Pledge, which the
campaign intends to invite every candidate standing at the next general
election to make the pledge into their own public commitment, so that
the new parliament will be fully aware of what the public thinks of
those building-blocks of government which are fundamental but seldom
covered by manifestos.

*+ London: Mark Thomas gig volunteers required +*
Mark Thomas has a run of gigs at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn every
evening (except Sunday) until 3rd October and we need volunteers to help
out. Please email Matty Mitford on local.groups@no2id.net with your
availability if you’d like to help out.

*+ Party Conferences +*
NO2ID does not have fringe meetings at any of the main party conferences
this year, but we will be aiming to leaflet delegates in order to
complement an advertising campaign in the political magazines that are
distributed to delegates. Phil Booth (national.coordinator@no2id.net)
will be in Manchester for the Conservative Party Conference (5th to 8th
October) and in Brighton for the Labour Party Conference (27th September
to 1st October). If you are a delegate or local resident and would like
to help out, please contact the appropriate person – putting “[Party]
Conference” in the subject line of your email.
UK-IPS chief James Hall has already begun a ‘charm offensive’ in the
licensed trade press, attempting to undermine existing well established
proof of age schemes and talk up the inclusion of biometrics – despite
the fact that shops and pubs will not have machines to read
fingerprints, and that UK-IPS’ own guidance predicts problems with
visual checks in pubs and clubs. They have also recently been polling
businesses to try and discover what would be most likely to make them
start using the scheme with their employees, so we can expect another
campaign based round that theme to appear at some stage.

This latest, desperate attempt to market the ID scheme is patronising
hype. Having failed to come up with any convincing benefits, officials
are set to waste millions shoving ID cards down the throats of shops, of
licensees, and of young people who already have alternatives. The UK-IPS
is treating the public and businesses like children if it thinks giving
fingerprints smiles will make us all happy to be fingerprinted.

Anyone signing up for a Home Office “identity card” has agreed to report
to an official database for life, and lost control of their own identity
information for ever. It is nothing to smile about.

*+ Reminder: Launch of our counter campaign +

*NO2ID will launch a counter campaign in Greater Manchester on the 10th
October and Central Manchester on the 17th October. On Saturday 10th
October there will be a day of action with NO2ID groups and supporters
from around the UK 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. For more details see Manchester and your local
group in the local groups section below
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What just happened?

*+ Pointless ID Scheme Commissioner appointed +*

The government has appointed Sir Joseph Pilling as the first ‘Identity
Commissioner’ for the ID cards scheme – a role that is toothless and
irrelevant. The new Commissioner cannot investigate criminality, issue
any sanction for breach or misuse or even demand compliance with the Act
which he is supposed to oversee. The UK Identity and Passport Service
(UK-IPS) press release states: “The new Identity Commissioner will act
independently and on behalf of the public to ensure that information
held on the National Identity Register is accurate and secure as well as
monitoring the use identity cards are put to by both public and private
sectors”. It is hard to see how Pilling, who began his career with the
Home Office in 1966 and has spent his entire career being the soul of
discretion in various Departments of State, could be described as
“independent” or be expected to act as a whistleblower.

*+ NO2ID Database Man advert is “decent and true” +

*The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that NO2ID’s advert
‘Database Man’ is decent, true and substantiated following a single
complaint from a reader of the New Statesman in July, The advert,
designed to highlight the threat to privacy posed by the proposed
existence of a National Identity Register, specifically insider abuse,
and indirectly to highlight the data sharing, collating and
cross-referencing functions of the Register, has been run in various
publications since 2005.
The advert can be downloaded at
http://www.no2id.net/downloads/DatabaseMan.pdf
The full adjudication is at
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_4...0.htm

*+ National DNA Database Ethics Group Annual Report released +

*The 2nd Annual Report of the National DNA Database Ethics Group has
been released. The report criticises the government’s response to the
European Court of Human Rights ruling that keeping the DNA of people
arrested but not charged was unlawful.
The report can be downloaded at
http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/forensic-s...inary
-
“ID” in the news

*+ Euro project to arrest us for what they think we will do – The
Regsiter 23/9/09 +*
Radical Think Tank Open Europe has this week exposed a study by the EU
that could lead to the creation of a massive cross-Europe database,
amassing vast amounts of personal data on every single citizen in the
EU. The scope of this project also reveals a growing governmental
preference for systems capable of locking people up not for what they
have done, but for what they might do.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/23/eu_crime_predic...ject/

*+ Home Office stonewalls ID findings – The Register 22/9/09 +*
The Home Office is refusing to release ‘research’ it carried out which
was meant to prove just how very keen young people in the UK are to get
hold of a delicious ID card. The department blew almost £80,000 setting
up a site to find out what people aged between 16 and 25 thought of ID
cards. The site operated from July to mid-October and was run by Virtual
Surveys. It suffered some early teething problems
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/09/my_life_my_id_m...eart/) when
admins were accused of censoring comments.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/22/id_card_researc....html

*+ DVLA Flogs Database to Castrol – Piston Heads – 21/9/09 +*
Castrol is using roadside cameras to read vehicle registrations and then
flash individual motorists with a message stating that a Castrol product
is ‘the right oil’ for their car.
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=20684

*+ ID cards face an uncertain future after Cabinet argues over cuts -
The Times 18/9/09 +*
A Cabinet row over ID cards broke out yesterday as Gordon Brown began
detailed talks over the cuts needed to start repaying Britain’s debt.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6...9.ece

*+ MoJ admits personal data breaches – Law Gazette 17/9/09 +*
Nearly 2,000 people have had personal information about themselves lost
by the Ministry of Justice over the past year, in a series of incidents
listed in the department’s accounts, published last week.
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/moj-admits-personal-da...aches

*+ Ministers retreat on child database – The Independent 15/9/09 +*
Moves to vet every adult who works with children are set to be watered
down after the Government ordered a last-minute review of the
controversial anti-paedophile scheme. Ed Balls, the Children’s
Secretary, acted amid fury that the criminal record checks would affect
parents who give lifts to children on behalf of sports teams or
voluntary organisations such as the Scouts.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ministers....html

*+ Vetting contact rule under review – BBC News online 14/9/09 +*
The government is to look again at how a new vetting system for those
working with children will operate. England’s Children’s Secretary Ed
Balls said it was “tremendously important” to define “frequent or
intensive” contact correctly.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8255553.stm

*+ PAC criticises NPfIT delivery – eHealth Insider 14/9/09 +*
The Public Accounts Committee has criticised the government for not
using appropriate governance arrangements or available project
management skills when delivering the National Programme for IT in the NHS.
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/5202/pac_criticises_npfit_delivery

(Please send me any items of interest you encounter -
Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )
-
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*+ LOCAL GROUPS NEWS + *
_*+ Bristol +*_*

+ 7th October – Bristol NO2ID Meeting +*
Wednesday 7th October, 7:30pm at the Deco Lounge on Cotham Hill (off
Whiteladies Road). New members always welcome.