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This week it was reported that the Home Office intends to link implementation of an Identity Card and National Identity Register with an EU Directive on the content of passports.

In fact, as we have repeatedly reported, the UK is not bound by the EU biometric passport regulations because it is not a signatory to the Schengen Agreements that remove border controls between EU countries. It has also emerged that EU member states are to replace national drivers licences with EU licences that will only last 10 years and look set to contain a microchip containing data about the owner. The issuing of new licences will be obligatory from 2012.

The government will no doubt use this directive as an excuse for linking licence renewal to national identity registration. In November 2005, during the UK’s presidency, EU ministers attending a summit in Manchester unanimously approved the ‘Manchester Declaration’ which says:

“Member States will, during 2006, agree a process and roadmap for achieving the electronic identity objectives and address the national and European legal barriers to the achievement of the electronic identity objectives. Work in this area is essential for public administrations to deliver personalised electronic services with no ambiguity as to the user’s identity.”

No 2ID

Ping pong ends after record breaking 6 bats, On Wednesday the Identity Cards Bill was passed by parliament. The endgame began on Monday the House of Lords voted by 219 to 191 to amend the ID cards bill and duly sent it back to the Commons for a 5th time. At issue was the nature of voluntary ID registration for passport applicants. Lord Armstrong proposed an opt-out clause, whereby with a passport application/renewal an ID card and National Identity Register entry would be made unless the applicant specifically requested to opt-out. On Tuesday afternoon this amendment was rejected by MPs and the bill returned to the House of Lords once again. On Tuesday evening Lord Armstrong offered up another amendment that was dubbed “a compromise” and which the government indicated they would accept. The so called “compromise” was that up until 1st January 2010 passport applicants can opt out of receiving an ID card - but they will be compulsorily registered on the National Identity Register. Those of us that know what is wrong with the government’s scheme know that it is the database behind the cards that is the issue, not the plastic card itself. The Lords however seemed to miss this crucial point and voted to accept Lord Armstrong’s amendment by 287 to 60.

The bill then returned to the Commons for a sixth and final time last night, when MPs voted by 301 to 84 to accept peers’ amendments. A shocking 250 MPs abstained. The Home Secretary revealed that even if passport applicants opt not to have a plastic ID card they will still have to pay the full price of a combined passport and ID card. He also revealed that passport holders entered onto the National Identity Register would be subject to the database’s audit trail, the building blocks of total surveillance.

A few MPs did speak against this abysmal piece of legislation.

Nick Clegg MP said: “The introduction of identity cards will usher in one of the most far-reaching changes in British public life in recent times. [...] It will revolutionise the capacity of the state to monitor the movements and behaviour of each and every one of us. It erodes privacy, and in extremis it will curtail freedom”.

Bill Cash MP said: “The Bill should be excoriated and put in the dustbin. I shall not support it under any circumstances whatsoever.”

Simon Hughes MP said: “If the Home Secretary thinks this is the end of the matter, he is wrong. Many of us have made it absolutely clear that we will do everything in our power, personally and on behalf of other people, never to have identity cards or to be on a national identity register. I encourage everybody listening and watching to renew their passports now so that they will not have to be subject to the ID card regime for the next 10 years. I hope that many will do so.”

Richard Sheperd MP said: “One day, this Government will experience the wrath and indignation of a country that understands that this is not a small social measure; it is in fact a declaration by Government that the centralised state is more important and greater than the sum of every individual free citizen of the country that we were sent to represent.”

Stuart Hosie MP said: “When the scale of the opposition to carrying an ID card or to being included on a central biometric database rises to the scale of the opposition we saw to the poll tax, I fear that the entire edifice will collapse.”

Science & Technology committee hear evidence against ID card scheme

Last week(22nd March) the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee held a session on the proposed ID card scheme. It emerged that the Home Office does not know what technologies they will use, nor have they tested any systems - apparently that will take place during the procurement phase. The chairman of the committee was surprised at the Home Office’s optimism with regards to delivering the scheme, as the committee had, he said, been talking to the US Department of Homeland Security about ID in the US. US officials said that “the technology was not there and that they were not in a position even to recommend to the administration that a procurement process should start”. Maybe the US are waiting to see what kind of a mess the Home Office make of ID cards here first.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmsctech/uc900-iii/uc90002.htm

RFID Viruses and Worms

It has emerged that RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips are susceptible to viruses and worms. A report produced by the University of Amsterdam details ‘Well-Known RFID Threats’, ‘RFID-Based Exploits’ and ‘RFID-Based Viruses’. The report warns that “data from RFID tags can be used to exploit back-end software systems”. The UK will begin rolling out biometric passports containing a facial biometric from October. The new passports will contain an RFID style contactless chip containing the facial image and biographical data.
See http://www.rfidvirus.org/index.html

Torqay NO2ID begin campaigning

Spring is the season of regrowth and so this morning the fledgling Torquay NO2ID started campaigning in Lower Union Street (outside what used to be Dixons) from 10am to 1pm. Torquay co-ordinator, Jim Camp, would like to pass on his appreciation to Brighton NO2ID for the invaluable experience he
with them. Contact for more information about the Torquay group.

Blue Peter badge ID cards

The BBC announced this week that they are considering issuing a photo ID card to accompany Blue Peter badges after the coveted trinkets have appeared on the auction website ebay. The badges have been touted on ebay as a way of gaining free entry to zoos and stately homes. The BBC are considering issuing bona-fide badge winners with a photo ID card, though they have made no mention of a centralised database or the inclusion of biometrics. We imagine the government will be watching this one closely for ways to cut the astronomical ID card scheme budget using washing up bottles and sticky back plastic.

Correction: newsletter 41 - ID Sniper rifle - Reality stranger than fiction

In the last newsletter an item, ‘Implanting a GPS-microchip in the body of a human being’, appeared in the ‘ID in the news’ section. The story was actually about a hoax engineered by Danish artist Jakob S. Boeskov together with writer Mads Brugger and designer Kristian von Bengston. In June 2002 they founded a fake company ‘Empire North’ and touted their non-existent weapon at an arms fair, ‘China Police 2002′, in Beijing. Looking at current trends in GPS tagging they thought it would “merely be a question of time before the technology would be used pre-emptively on suspicious persons”. Delegates at the fair clearly agreed and were eager to get their hands on the technology…

No 2ID