Directory of Lost Causes (By Quentin S. Crisp)

NO2ID

I believe that the implementation of mandatory ID cards is fundamentally wrong. It places an assumption of guilt on the individual citizen. You are placed on permanent parole, in a position where you must justify your very existence on demand to people who don't know you and have nothing to do with you. For this reason, I post the following information, from the Our World Our Say pressure group, to whose e-mail newsletter I subscribe:

ID CARDS. TRUE COST LIKELY TO BE ?300 A PERSON. DOESN'T TACKLE TERRORISM, FRAUD OR IDENTITY THREAT. BASED ON NATIONAL DATABASE THAT TRACKS INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS THROUGHOUT LIFE. UNPRECEDENTED IN PEACE TIME. SECOND READING OF ID CARDS BILL Tuesday.

Click here TO TAKE ACTION.

Dear Friend
How do you feel about an ID card scheme being foisted on the British people that even George Bush described as too "lliberal", when a similar scheme was proposed in the US?

If you're not sure where you stand on ID cards please still take a minute to read on because there's a lot we're not being told by the Government.

The fact is this is not just about a simple identity card: it is actually more about a national surveillance infrastructure - called the National Identity Register - based on the most comprehensive database of personal information ever devised in any country. It could even include the police DNA database, GCHQ electronic surveillance database and phone & internet surfing records.

This database lies behind the ID card scheme. It is nothing like the ID card this country had in the war and is wider in scope than any other European ID card - it is more like schemes adopted in very authoritarian countries, where the police have access to the personal details of every citizen.

I'm writing to you and all Our World Our Say supporters to ask you to take urgent action now to persuade MPs that the British people will not accept this scheme. Go to
this link.

This Tuesday, the 28th May, the ID Cards Bill will receive its second reading. You and I and all who care must ensure that MPs and Home Secretary Charles Clarke receive a massive wake up call from voters. In Australia, in New Zealand and in Canada voters have rejected such a scheme. We must do the same here in Britain.

It will enable all state bodies and even commercial organisations to access a whole raft of information about who we are and what we do. Right through our life every action through officialdom will be recorded. You and I will have little control over the use of this data.

It may be too illiberal for the US but Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Tony Blair clearly think it's not too illiberal for Britain. You and I must prove them wrong.

In the early stages the scheme will be voluntary - but you won't be able to work, you won't be able to access the health service and you won't be able to get a passport without becoming part of the scheme. And the government has admitted that the scheme will become compulsory.

Imagine having to queue to get your fingerprints and retina scanned - and having to pay a significant amount for the privilege of receiving a card. The fact is the total cost has been estimated by the London School of Economics to be at least ?300 per person. The actual cost to you and I may be subsidised by selling the data to private companies but it is still likely to be substantial.

If you don't turn up to your appointment to have your fingerprints, face and retina scanned then you face a fine of ?2,500. You could go to prison for up to two years if you don't sign up for a card. To back the bill up a whole range of new offences are being created - which threaten to make criminals out of thousands of ordinary people.

Why is this card being introduced? None of the Government's arguments stack up. They won't prevent terrorism. All the terrorists who committed the Madrid bombing had legitimate ID cards. Elsewhere in the world ID cards have done nothing to stop terrorism.

They won't stop benefit fraud. 90% of benefit fraud is by people using their real identity. They won't stop illegal immigration. All of the evidence of ID card schemes is that as soon as they are established a trade starts in forged cards. And minority ethnic groups are also concerned because the scheme may be used by bigoted officials to harass them.

The cost will be horrendous. The London School of Economics study estimates that the total cost of this scheme could be as much as ?18 billion pounds. That could buy a lot of schools and hospitals. The government denies this but if a recent leak to Private Eye is true then the Passport Office is already working on the basis that the cards will cost ?300 each to implement.

On top of this the technology is completely unproven. The planned ID card scheme in Australia was driven out by the failure of the technology and massive public opposition.

Help build a bandwagon against the ID Cards Bill. Take action now by:

* contacting your MP and telling him or her why they must vote against this bill. You will be redirected from the Our World Our Say to writetothem.com

* emailing the Home Secretary

* declaring your home an ID cards free zone.

Together we must show the Government that the British people have caught on to exactly what this bill means. Go to this link and take these actions now.

It's vital that we do all we can to wake up the British people to a development that is the most draconian enforcement of a national identity card scheme and database in peace time. We have little time to prevent this becoming law.

Yours

Rob Whitehead

Development Manager, Our World Our Say

PS: It has been revealed that the government has been asked to consider making the national database underlying the ID card scheme accessible to the American authorities.

Please take action today to prevent this scheme becoming law.

You can download an ID card free zone poster from here to put up in your window.

We plan to place adverts in the national press next week about ID cards. To make a donation to OWOS please go to this link

To see if there is a local no2id group to get involved with go to:

www.no2id.net