WRITE TO YOUR MP, STOP ID POWERS NOW!

This is from Phil Booth of NO2ID:

On Wednesday 8th July 2009, the House of Commons will vote on a group of three ID-related Statutory Instruments* including one called 'The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Provision of Information without Consent) Regulations 2009'.
The other two establish fees and penalties that can be applied to anyone registered on the ID database.

We need you to write to your MP *NOW* to get them to vote against these key pieces of secondary legislation.

The 'Provision of Information without Consent' regulation would give powers to the Identity and Passport Service to pass on information it holds on you to a host of other agencies WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT. This
information would include not only official document numbers, and personal details like your name, addresses and signature (more than enough to facilitate massive identity fraud) but also your fingerprints and even - to the police, intelligence services, taxman and ANYONE ELSE THEY AUTHORISE - details of every time you had had your ID checked, e.g to register with a GP, open a bank account or apply for credit, or travel abroad. Your medical and financial dealings conveniently tagged and indexed for further snooping.

Records of what information has been given to whom and why may be destroyed after 12 months or less. They would track you for life, but prefer to leave no trail of their activities.

Contrary to some recent media reports, the ID scheme is still very much alive. From 2011 onwards you will still be forced to register on the ID database when you apply for or renew your passport. Some, including young people and those living in the North West of England, may be duped or bullied into registering for a card from later this year - and once you are on the database, there is no way off. The fees, penalties and data-trafficking established by these regulations would apply to you for life.

Blocking these three Statutory Instruments would not only stall the Scheme, it provides an opportunity for ID opponents to show how committed they are to killing it off completely. It is important that as many MPs of all parties as possible vote against them on Wenesday 8th July.

There is very little time, so we need you to contact your MP straight away - http://www.WriteToThem.com makes it very easy - to tell him or her that you deeply object to having your personal information shared without your
knowledge or consent, and ask him or her to vote against 'The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Provision of Information without Consent) Regulations 2009' and the other two ID-related Statutory Instruments (see below for details) on Wednesday 8th July.

And don't forget to TELL OTHERS - link to our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54487688497, e-mail your friends, but don't delay.

--

*Statutory Instruments (SIs) are pieces of legislation which allow the provisions of an Act of Parliament (e.g. Ministerial powers) to be brought into force or altered without Parliament having to pass a new Act. They are also sometimes referred to as secondary legislation or regulations. The three with which we are most immediately concerned are:

The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Fees) Regulations 2009
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/draft/ukdsi_9780111479070_en_1

The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Information and Code of Practice on Penalties)
Order 2009
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/draft/ukdsi_9780111479087_en_1

The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Provision of Information without Consent)
Regulations 2009
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/draft/ukdsi_9780111479063_en_1

Join NO2ID letter

Joint letter published in the Kent Messenger this week. This was written by the NO2ID campaign.

Sir/Madam,

You may be aware that from this month the government begins issuing what it calls, with an obvious nasty spin, "ID cards for foreigners". You may not be aware what this means for Maidstone. First affected will be students and those marrying Britons. The plan is that gradually residents from outside Europe will be fingerprinted and have to account for their movements. (Later, so would we all.)

This is unlikely to put off refugees and the poor unskilled with nothing to lose. But successful foreigners such as sportspeople and overseas students have a lot of choice where they study or exercise their talents. Some will decide Britain has become too unfriendly. When the US introduced more hostile visa conditions 3-4 years ago, the numbers applying to study there fell by 15% and Bill Gates complained that Microsoft could no longer hire some of the best software engineers.

If this scheme is continued it will lead to less fee-income and lower international status for our universities. British students will have to pay higher tuition to make up, and will have less money to spend with local businesses. Fewer of the world's star performers in every field will choose to make their homes here than do now.

We the undersigned value the contribution that these gifted people currently make to our institutions and our society. We think our country should treat them as guests, not criminal suspects. "ID cards for foreigners" is not just a small-minded slogan - Maidstone will suffer culturally and economically.

Yours faithfully

Paul Hobday, Chairman BMA Maidstone division; Adrienne Margolis, Richard Baker-Howard, co-chairmen of the Maidstone No2ID campaign; Kathy Moss, Stuart Jeffery, Maidstone Green Party; Helen Grant, Conservative PPC for Maidstone.

NO2ID kicks off in Maidstone

Attended the inaugural meeting of Maidstone NO2ID last night, a great meeting with about seven people plus the regional coordinator. It is great to see a campaign group in Maidstone that is not focussing on a NIMBY issue (not that I have any problem with locally focussed campaigns, just that other campaigns seem very light on the ground here). The timing is interesting with the home office losing another data stick with 84,000 confidential records on it yesterday.

A lot of good ideas about street stalls and how to engage with the public were discussed, although I did get rather heated after the hearing about what a wonderful champion of civil liberties David Davis is (check out his stance on the death penalty, LGBT issues, 28 day detention etc.).

Of course the Tories are full of ordinary people like him, championing our rights. Ordinary people like Boris Johnson, the 8 greats grandson of George II. Personally, I find it very difficult to relate to these Old-Etonians. I grew upmostly in the Medway Towns (with about 3 years in Maidstone). The people in Medway are great, down to earth, dealing with the same issues that we all deal with. I certainly didn't grow up knowing anyone from a privilidged background. (Hmm... classist rant now over).

CCTV and Tory intolerance

Alan Duncan has hit out at Brian Haw and the anti-war protest: 'The anti-war protest outside Parliament is a "vulgar and pointless display" which should be permanently moved' as reported in politics.co.uk. The legitimacy of rightful protest has taken a battering this month with Kingsnorth and now this outburst by this senior Tory. Perhaps he could get the antiwar protest to disperse if the Tories win the next general election, by getting his new government to withdraw troups from Iraq, Afganistan etc. and to ensure that we don't get involved in any more illegal wars.

Elsewhere CCTV has hit the news again. 10% of schools have CCTV in the toliets according to teachers. I seem to recall that two schools in Maidstone have done this. This surely is one of the most appalling uses of CCTV possible - we already have the highest ratio of cameras to people in the world (1 to 13). We are filmed and monitored almost constantly as we move around outside, especially in towns. They have replaced our duty to look out for each other, replaced the community cohesion that used to give a feeling of security. We have to reverse the trend.

On a similar vein, the NO2ID campaign kicks off in Maidstone on Thursday. If you are free, join us at The Muggleton at 6.30.