Good to see that the Lib Dems are joining us

Nick Clegg is making a speech to Privacy International tonight. And as is the tradition of Liberal Democrats everywhere, to be all things to all people into that audience he will say the right thing,

He will highlight the growth of CCTV cameras, the retention of innocent people's DNA and ID cards as evidence of "endless snooping" by government.

I am delighted, but hold on,

If they win power, the Lib Dems have pledged to introduce legislation to safeguard basic liberties, strengthen data protection laws, "restore" the right to peaceful protest and abolish ID cards.

Nothing here about abolishing the National Identity Register, nothing here about dealing with the NHS Spine. Without tackling these under the counter apsects you are merely pruning. And we all know that if you prune a plant, rather than uproot it, it grows back stronger.

National Identity Register: EEA Countries
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from which date EEA nationals will be compelled to have their personal information recorded on the National Identity Register; and whether they will then be issued with a UK biometric identity card. [130425]

John Reid: We will start issuing identity cards to British citizens from 2009, alongside compulsory biometric immigration documents to foreign nationals from 2008. No date has yet been set but, subject to further primary legislation, it is intended that registration on the National Identity Register should eventually become compulsory for everyone aged 16 and over who is resident in the United Kingdom for more than a prescribed period and this will include European Economic Area (EEA) nationals.

Nope, I cannot see any attempt to stop it here? Can you? Maybe I have missed something?

For the record, UKIP would abolish the NIR, and thus ID cards become irrelevant. We oppose the Spine, we oppose the proliferation of CCTV cameras, and speed traps (those placed solely to make money).
We also oppose the retention of DNA, the mass proliferation of CRB checks, the European Arrest Warrant (are you listening Mr Clegg) lifestyle laws as a general rule and countless other ways that those in power attempt to restrict our Liberty.

If possible ID cards just got scarier

Plans are afoot to make the ID card all singing all dancing, the current enormously popular cards,(yes folks 7,000 people have taken them up) are scary (but mainly because of the database),

Existing British citizen ID cards are designed to simply verify someone's identity using a government issued card reader, a device which reads the biographic information and the digital photo and two fingerprints stored on the ID card's embedded RFID chip, and allows an official to check those details against the person presenting the card.

But a new card planned for 2012 looks a whole new kettle of summat,

Identity and Passport Service (IPS) are fitting the new cards with a chip that would include the EMV technology standard that underpins chip and PIN transactions in UK credit and debit cards or a digital encryption and signature capability.

Thus shopping, benefits etc could be accessed (read only accessed) by those with cards. At a distance the Identity Minister Meg Hillier, is looking at Belgium with rather large eyes,

"Belgium is one country that leads the way - it [the Belgian ID card] has links to the health service and employment and remote voting," she said.

Yes folks. Employment... Voting....

Oh boy, now why would the Government want to decide whether or how you could do those things?

Tell you what, stopping these things is becoming a serious moral duty. Good thing UKIP opposes the ID cards themselves and the great National Identity Register.

Pilling on the ID misery

But if it became clear to everyone's astonishment that a Conservative government were not going to abolish ID cards, or if the Labour party won the election and we had another parliament of developing ID cards – possibly to the point where they couldn't in practice be abolished by anybody – then external critics who concentrated only on the abolition of ID cards would be rather wasting their time.

Don't these words from Sir John Pilling, the ID card commissioner strike you as slightly chilling?

Couldn't in practice be abolished? Doesn't he undestand that in a democracy no government can bind a future government. That decisions can be rescinded? Or is he right and when something is enacted it becomes a Horatian bridge?

If you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear...

Nope I am still not keen on ID cards.

Via UKIP blog

They lost how many?

It appears that more than 11,000 military ID cards have been lost or stolen in the last two years, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Some 4,433 went missing in 2006 and 6,812 last year.

We discover this via a PQ from Liam Fox. We then sit here quivering with rage and fear. No get this, if a serving serviceman loses his military ID card he or she is up on charge pronto, at least that was case when I last had one.

There are about 120,000 people in the armed services. At just over 5% that is a major loss rate. But more serious than that. The fact that there are severe penalties for the loss of the MOD ID card makes people take keeping it secure seriously. So with an approximate population of 60 million we could be looking at a loss theft rate of about 3,000,000 per annum. And that is as if there were incentives to keep them safe. Without those incentives the figures are likely to be far higher.

Human ingenuity is just no match for human incompetence.

Update
Those nice people over at ARRSE have put me right on a couple of facts in this piece.
Firstly there no longer seems to be a charge for loss of the MOD identity card. Which seems a little odd in the current security climate but so be it.
Secondly, my numbers for service personnel were all over the place and a better estimate would be 190,000. This of course puts my maths badly out of kilter.
Thus if we were to extrapolate from lost or stolen military ID cards (about 2.8%) to the general population we will find that from a population of 60 million , (which I believe to be a wild underestimate, but the government seem to be remarkably coy about the true figures) we are still looking at figures of 1,680,000 missing national ID cards a year.

I would say that despite my appalling night mathematics the point still stands. This is an appalling attrition rate, the costs and administration of which would be colossal.

Consider the case of stolen or missing credit cards. There is a financial cost in having a card lost or stolen. I am waiting for APACS to get back to me, but my guess is the number is huge - if my own experience is anything to go by.

Update 2
Spoken to APACS and there are no industry wide figures available for lost or stolen credit cards in the UK. Which is odd, and maybe could be a peice of research for No2ID as they ramp up their campaign against the stealth introduction of ID cards into the UK.

EU ID?

Admiral Lord West has given a definitive, but oddly confusing response to a question from Lord Pearson,

Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP) Hansard source
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have held any discussions with other European Union member state Governments on the eventual introduction of a harmonised European Union identity card and registration system; and, if so, whether they support this proposal.

Lord West of Spithead (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Security and Counter-terrorism), Home Office) Hansard source
We have held no such discussions as there is no proposal for a harmonised European Union identity card. Twenty four out of the 27 EU member states currently have their own national identity card schemes, and whether they issue identity cards to their own nationals is a matter for the individual member state.

In December 2005, during the United Kingdom presidency of the EU, a set of council conclusions was agreed on the minimum security standards for national identity cards issued by member states, but these are not binding on member states. The EU Lisbon treaty will bring the format of national identity cards within Community competence, such competence already existing in relation to the format of passports.

Which confuses chaps like me. Sentence one of the response is categorical. "There is no proposal for a harmonised European Union identity card". Phew we can all breath a sigh of relief, but hold on, what's this in the second paragraph?
So in answer to Pearson's question, are there plans, well yes there are, and not only that they were UK Government suggestions.

What is more the plans reside within the Constitution/Reform Treaty. That phrase 'Community competence' translates in Eurospeak as 'Exclusive power' as opposed to shared or national competence. So where does it say this in the Treaty? Article 63, part 3 tells us,

3. If action by the Union should prove necessary to facilitate the exercise of the right referred to in Article 17(2)(a), and if the Treaties have not provided the necessary powers, the Council, acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure, may adopt provisions concerning passports, identity cards, residence permits or any other such document. The Council shall act unanimously after consulting the European Parliament.

So what was agreed in Council under the auspices of Charles Clarke,

Common minimum security standards for national identity cards - Council conclusions
The Council adopted the following conclusions:
"Recognising the mandate given to Member States by the Hague Programme and the 13 July 2005 Justice and Home Affairs Council;
Recognising the importance of ensuring the security of travel and other identity documents;
Recognising that the mandate relates only to security standards, not to any domestic uses of national identity cards and that no legally binding standards or timetables
are being imposed;
Without prejudging the issue of the possible legal basis for a measure harmonising minimum security standards for national identity cards and without affecting the right of each Member State to decide whether or not to issue national identity cards and whether to use biometric identifiers;
Recognising the priority to be attached to compliance with the standards established by the European Union in Council Regulation (EC) 2252/2004 on passports, and the draft regulations amending legislation on visas and residence permits. These standards are a reference point for those to be developed for identity cards;
Building upon the work already done on security features for passports, and bearing in mind the need for interoperability based on ICAO standards;

The Member States of the European Union, working together on an intergovernmental basis:
1. Have decided to accept the following interim conclusions of the experts working in the Committee created by Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) 1683/95, which will be followed by more detailed technical standards in due course:
• as regards the security features other than biometric identifiers: to use the same
minimum standards on materials to be used, ink, printing techniques, etc. as those
established for passports, adapted to the card form of the identity card; and
• as regards the biometric identifiers: to use as a starting point the technical
specifications established for the integration of biometrics in the passport in accordance with Regulation (EC) 2252/2004.
2. Have decided to work towards putting in place the following minimum standards relating to the security of issuing processes:
• applicants should appear in person at least once during the issuing procedure for identity cards;
• applications should be verified by authorised personnel against existing databases
which should be regularly updated, for example, civil registers, passport and
identity cards databases or driving licence registers;
• monitoring of the issuing process is recommended, including where processes are
carried out by sub-contractors, and this should include regular audits;
• in principle, no single member of staff should carry out every part of the issuing process for an individual; and
• secure storage, transport and transmitting of data and components of documents should be ensured.
3. Have decided to further their cooperation by exchanging information on a regular basis on their national practices, taking into account the experiences of Member States regarding electronic identity cards."

So when Admiral West talks of these things being voluntary he is right, today. But whether they will continue to be voluntary after the ratification of the Treaty I really cannot tell, but that ominous phrase 'Community Competence' suggests not.

Biometric ID: Not our fault, they made us do it!

This is a mantra we hear so often from our own government, so it is educative to hear it from somewhere else. The basic premise is, 'We as the sovereign government are free to do what we want'... unless it is unpopular, when we blame the EU.

Thus when the German Government announce that,

"As of 1 November 2007 the law requires that fingerprints of passport applicants be taken. If applicants are not willing to have their fingerprints taken, a passport cannot be issued to them".

They make it damn sure to explain that it is of course not their fault at all but because of the EU.

"the electronic passport is part of a security policy adopted by the European Union after the attacks of 11 September 2001"

Admittedly the need for identifiers on ID cards in Germany has a dodgy history.

Keep up at the back

But I suppose I should be apy they have noticed at all.
It seems that the Tories have finaly lumbered onto the bandwagon on kiddieprinting. Which is a good thing, but they are only 12 months behind UKIP. Nick Gibbs the Tory's shadow schools minister has, more than a week after it came out, commented upon the BECTA report on the schools fingerprinting scandal,

“This is long-awaited but very disappointing guidance. It is very weak as it neither requires schools to seek parental consent nor recognises the serious issues at stake with schools fingerprinting children simply for administrative convenience. The Government needs to look more carefully at the fundamental principles these issues raise.”

Though I am pleased that they have at last noticed, these comments hardly fill me with confidence. There is no suggestion here that they are planing to make compulsory consent aong the Irish lines an aspect of their schools policy. Indeed to describe the BECTA guidlines as weak, and then to merely ask the Government "to look more closely" is pathetic. It is a pretty cut and dried case. Either you think that the mass fingerprinting of schoolchildren on spurious grounds is a god thing, or you don't, there is no middle ground.

The Bill just gets bigger

And thats before you even factor in freedom.
It appears that yet another aspect of the Government's id scheme is spiralling out of control. James Hall who is the boss of the Identity and Passport Service has admitted

"the previous calculations of the number of people needed to roll out the cards to all UK adults were unrealistic.
‘We have taken a more conservative view of the number of application and enrolment examiners needed to successfully deliver the scheme,’ said Hall.
‘We have factored in increased numbers in the short term and have avoided planning for reductions until we are fully transitioned. It risks the integrity of the scheme to reduce staff numbers at the same time as introducing new technology,’ he said.
The price tag will continue to fluctuate because of inflation and take-up levels, but costs are not expected to rise so sharply again.
‘With some caveats, and the fact that we have not yet started the procurement, we believe we have bottomed out the costs and do not see any reason for them to change significantly,’ said Hall.

Oh I love the way that the price will continue to fluctuate, butr he says bnot up. Tell that to the judge. So far the price has fluctuated wildly, but always in the same direction, UP.
What has changed to make this no longer the case?

Meanwhile the FCO has admitted it has screwed up the online visa application system in India. The problem appears to be solved now. But if they cannot run something simple like that, how the hell do they think they will be able to run the ID card system?

ID Cards will only be used to protect your security

You know the arguements made by the Government and other proponents of ID Cards. They will secure our borders, stop immigration, stop benefit cheats, stop terrorism and so on.
If anybody dare suggest they will ever be used to regulate our behaviour they are denounced by the powers that be as scare mongerers and so on.
So imagine my suprise when in the lobby of the Berlin hotel in which I am staying I saw this. Apparently since January 1st this year all fag machines in Germany require you to put your EU ID card in to allow you to buy cigarettes. Of course this is just to ensure that kiddywinks don't buy cigs.
But do they log the purchase against the card. Could it be used for future taxation purposes etc. Next time anybody tells you you have nothing to worry about, take a look at this photo and tell me what is next?

Update
Interesting points made elsewhere about this.

Well, s9 Schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 says,

The following may be recorded in the entry in the Register for an individual-

(a) particulars of every occasion on which information contained in the individual’s entry has been provided to a person;

(b) particulars of every person to whom such information has been provided on such an occasion;

(c) other particulars, in relation to each such occasion, of the provision of the information.

Which seems to cover it.

And in evidence to the Science and Technology Committee (May 2006) it was mentioned that,

The few scenarios they do have mapped out at the moment I think still exhibit an interesting level of understanding. There is one talking about somebody who is 18 going into an off-licence and being able to assert proof of their age, and a 70 year-old looking for a 65 year-old discount. It then goes on to describe how the ID card will be used to reveal their date of birth in order to prove their age.

To me that just highlights the type of issue we have been trying to flag up for the Home Office: Why would you want to reveal somebody’s date of birth in that scenario? You would want to reveal their age; their entitlement that is, that they are over 65. You do not even have to reveal their age, but that they are over 65.

Oh fuckity, fuckity fuck.

This scares me

This is real - and it could affect you, your friends or family members. Before you think this is a hoax chain mail, it's not. I have checked with the Passport Office. (personally after receiving this longer email below). I also trust the person who sent it to me, connected to No2ID.

If you are 16 or over and haven't yet got a ten-year adult passport, then you should apply for one BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF APRIL 2007. And if you have a friend or family member in this position then let them know, quick!

This is why:

On March 26th this year, the Identity and Passport Service (did you even know they'd changed the name? - Even better is the fact that its full name used to be the UK Identity and Passport Services, or UKIPS note the link on the BBC website - something they got very touchy about and have now changed, cannot imagine why) opens some new offices as part of the build up to the ID card scheme that the government wants to introduce. By the end of the year there will be 69 of these interrogation centres, and people applying for their first adult passport from April 2007 will the guinea-pigs for a process the government is calling "Authentication by Interview".

There's NOTHING in it for you - though the government is currently spending
lots of taxpayers money trying to tell young people there is. All the information collected will be kept on file for ever. It will certainly end up more expensive than the £66 passports currently cost, too, since you'll have to pay for officials to gather a dossier on you and the perform an "intrusive interview" as part of the price - as well as losing a day of your life to visit an interrogation centre.

If you want to know more about how things will work once the system is in place, carry on reading.

If you care about your freedoms, and not having government officials poking around in your private life - or your friends' and family's - then please apply for your first adult passport BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF APRIL 2007, and pass this message on.

You could save yourself or someone close to you a lot of trouble.

How ID interrogations will work:

When you apply for a passport you will be asked to give lots of information about yourself: official numbers, addresses for the last few years, your educational institutions, that sort of thing. And you'll sign to declare that it's the truth.

That information will be used to look up everything that can be found out about you on all the government and private sector databases they can lay their hands on: school records, social services, police, credit checking, perhaps family details... to build a single dossier on you containing personal information. "Data-rape", some people call it.

First a few people, then every new applicant, will be called in to their nearest interrogation centre. There you will be fingerprinted and photographed (once they have installed the equipment), and put through an "intrusive interview" - the government's own words - to check that you can give answers about private details of your life that agree with the official ones. If you can, you'll get your passport. If not... it is not clear, but trying to get a passport under 'false pretenses' - if the computer says "no" - could be quite serious. If nothing else, it will mean delay and more intrusion.

In fact, the government has already estimated that 1 in 4 people who apply under this new procedure will have to cancel their trip because they don't get their passport in time.

The government's plan is that all passports will be issued like this eventually. But you can take simple action now to keep off the database for ten years. And ALL opposition parties have now promised to abolish the ID scheme - so if you escape for 10 years, you may escape for ever.

If you haven't got one already, get yourself a full ten-year passport now. As long as you apply before many interrogation centres are open, and the system is fully operational, your chances of avoiding data-rape are good.

And by doing so you help to stop the same thing happening to everyone else by telling Tony Blair and his bullying government to "Take a hike".

For more information on the progress of passport procedures, check out http://www.renewforfreedom.org - the Identity and Passport Service website currently tells you very little.

Get a passport NOW. And tell your friends, if you think their private lives should be their own.