infinite ideas machine

Re-posted from archive of infinite ideas machine 2004:

If you are even remotely bothered by the intended introduction of ID cards, and it appears that – especially if we are made to pay for them – a large number of you actually are, then please register your objection(s) using one or several of the mechanisms at your disposal:

1) e-mail the Home Office

“On 26 April 2004 the Government published ‘Legislation on Identity Cards | A Consultation’ [553 KB PDF file]. This set out for consultation the Government’s plans for legislation on identity cards and includes the draft clauses of an Identity Cards Bill. We welcome comments on the draft legislation from individuals and organisations. These can be sent to identitycards@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk [address no longer valid] by including the words ‘consultation response’ in the subject title.”

2) Sign an e-petition* or vote in a poll

I’m sure there are/will be several out there – please let me know of any I have missed, and I shall attempt to make this a comprehensive list:

Liberty petition – click on the ‘Petitions’ tab, then ‘No to ID Cards’ link [petition closed].

Trevor Mendham’s BBC iCan campaign – registered BBCi members’ votes have more clout [campaign closed – Trevor joined NO2ID and was the first NO2ID Scotland coordinator].

Clare Hewitt-Horsman’s ‘No to National Identity Cards in the UK’ petition – although I’m not sure Clare has read the UK Government criteria for e-Petitions [see below].

UPDATED 5/5/04: The Campaign to Stop the National Identity Card (CASNIC) have an online petition.

*The Government has agreed to accept electronic petitions containing more than 300 ‘genuine signatures’. They appear to respond to each petition individually, even ones on the same subject, so long as it meets their basic criteria. Of course, the Government do not have a particularly good track record on “http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,2135665,00.htm” target=_blank>aggregating individual responses into ‘ad hoc petitions’, hence my suggestion that you object using each of the different mechanisms available to you.

3) Fax your MP

Via the excellent FaxYourMP.com [now developed into WriteToThem.com]. Please pay attention to their guidelines and instructions and do not abuse this genuinely useful service, e.g. by trying to fax someone who isn’t your MP. I have found it gets me a timely written response on House of Commons headed paper from my MP every time I use it – but then he is a Liberal Democrat!

4) Write a letter

Pretty much the same effect as (3) above, but with possibly a higher impact / better response rate. To find out the contact details of your local MP use this handy ‘Constituency Locata’ on the UK Parliament site.

Of course, you can write to any named MP at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA – but before you do, here’s some sensible advice from the BBC on ‘Writing to a political representative’.

5) Join or support an organisation

There are many(!) but, with specific regard to ID cards, you will probably find the following most useful and up-to-date:

Privacy International

Liberty

Stand [campaign now closed]

Statewatch

Re-posted from archive of infinite ideas machine 2004:

For your delight and delectation, one freshly published Home Office consultation document: Legislation on Identity Cards | A Consultation [553 KB PDF file] and its official Press Release, DAVID BLUNKETT: NATIONAL ID CARD SCHEME IS THE KEY TO THE UK’S FUTURE.

The Government’s current statements about Identity Cards seem to live in the ‘Community and Race’ section of the Home Office site, as do the Publications and Consultations Archives – well worth reading (although I recommend pre-emptive Anadin) for the background to and progress of UK Entitlement Identity Cards ‘from the horse’s mouth’.

Re-posted from archive of infinite ideas machine 2004:

The BBC Breakfast with Frost programme have published a transcript of today’s interview with David Blunkett. I must say the picture they have chosen does him no favours whatsoever – but unfortunately neither does much of what he says.

Re-posted from archive of infinite ideas machine 2004:

The Government, and David Blunkett in particular, seem to be unclear on the real benefits of ID cards. Indeed, the Home Secretary has been making conflicting and contradictory statements on their potential to combat terrorism for quite some time – as evidenced by, for example, the record of Hansard on 3rd July 2002.

This month Privacy International have released a new study, ‘Mistaken Identity; Exploring the Relationship Between National Identity Cards & the Prevention of Terrorism’ [227 KB PDF file] which presents evidence and analysis to support the conclusion that Identity cards are not “a meaningful or significant component in anti-terrorism strategies”. In fact, “[O]f the 25 countries that have been most adversely affected by terrorism since 1986, eighty per cent have national identity cards, one third of which incorporate biometrics”!

Similar points are touched on in the BBC’s article, ID cards ‘cannot stop terrorism’ which reports recent objections from both Liberty and the Lib Dems with regard to terrorism, and the Earl of Selborne who warns of the “very real danger that we are sleepwalking into our technological future.”

Re-posted from archive of infinite ideas machine 2004:

In the spirit of the debate that the Government would have us believe has happened, the BBC’s article Should we carry ID cards? carries a set of associated comments which they say “reflect the balance of the opinion we have received”.

Note that these could be seen to belie Tony Blair’s assertion earlier this month that “in relation to ID cards… I think there is no longer a civil liberties objection to that in the vast majority of quarters.”

So does he think that groups like Stand, Privacy International and Liberty are entirely unrepresentative of public opinion, or that a significant number of outstanding questions are simply undeserving of an answer?

Methinks Messrs. Blair & Blunkett may have been reading too many (and too much into) recent headlines…