Campaign continues against ID cards

Back in 2005 I signed a pledge, "I will refuse to register for an ID card and will donate £10 to a legal defence fund but only if 10,000 other people will also make this same pledge".

Photo: Passport renewal early as protest against ID cards - see 30th Aug 2006 blog

In fact 11360 other people also did. Various high-profile figures have also begun to sign up, by committing themselves to non-compliance too - joining top Greens are top Lib Dems and more.

The Identity Cards Act 2006 is now law, and - despite growing opposition, significant delays and rising costs - the new Prime Minister shows no sign of calling a halt to the National Identity Scheme. In 2008, the government intends to pilot fingerprinting and to issue the first 'biometric residence visas' to non-EU foreign nationals as a precursor to registering British Citizens. The legal powers to do these all these things will shortly begin to be applied.

Now is the time the legal defence fund part of the pledge is being called in. I'll be sending my cheque off today but other donations, by cheque made payable to 'NO2ID' are also very welcomed. Send with contact details to:

NO2ID (Legal Defence Fund)
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ

Regular readers of this blog will remember earlier campaigns on this issue of ID cards like early renewal of passports (see link below).

Free bus passes

I am also concerned at the impacts of free bus passes...when David Blunkett first floated the idea of ID cards back in 2003, he did so under cover of the name 'entitlement cards'. People saw through the spin and the government was forced to call them what they really are.

Four years on, we're seeing a re-emergence of the 'entitlement' concept as the Department for Transport expands its "National Concessionary Travel Scheme". Already running in Scotland and parts of Wales, this RFID smartcard-based scheme has several characteristics that are of concern:

• the unique numbering of older and disabled people, and some children
• significantly expanded collection and collation of personal information
• a clear intention to share data across local and central government

When applying for one of these new 'bus passes', one has not only to submit to having your personal details shared for as-yet-undefined purposes but also to having every one of your journeys logged. And yet again the focus is on the card not the database behind it - or the amount of information that will be stored and shared, or who will have access.

Of course, a local authority-issued entitlement card could in time be made a 'designated document' - which means compulsory entry onto the national ID database. Free and reduced-fare travel not be used as a Trojan Horse for central government data-sharing and ID agendas. There's no need for a local authority to withdraw entirely from the scheme, but it should 'contractually' commit to using the cards for the single purpose of concessionary travel. A government-issued database-linked smartcard of undefined purpose, tracking you and providing personal information to agencies and persons unknown is an ID card in all but name.