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The Independent reports that ID Cards could be compulsory within less than five years. This is much sooner than the ten year cooling off period originally agreed by Cabinet. Blunkett’s scheme apparently has Tony Blair’s personal support.
A draft Bill will be introduced next month with legislation proper in the November 2005 session (assuming Labour are still in power). The “fast track” Bill will allow compulsion to be introduced without further legislation being necessary, probably by 2008.
The Independent also reports an unnamed Minister repeating Blair’s line that “The argument has moved on from concern about civil liberties”.
It hasn’t.
The civil liberties issues with ID cards are just as strong today as they were fifty years ago. If the Government doesn’t want to talk about them then we must do so, loudly and publicly. We need to make this an election issue.
If we give up our civil liberties then the terrorists will have won.
Cross-posted from The Chestnut Tree Cafe
Blair is a liar. But of course the notion any politician does not utter more than the occasional porkie pie is a very uncontroversial one. But as I said in the wellspring of lies yesterday, one can but marvel at the bare faced effrontery of it when our political masters stand up and state something is true when any person not wilfully blind (or David Blunkett) can see it is patently untrue just by reading a few newspapers or one of several thousand blogs and websites.
Mr Blair said political objections had been removed and the only obstacle now was technical. He made clear he wanted the project to “move forward” as soon as it was feasible.
He risked antagonising civil rights campaigners by claiming they no longer objected to the idea, which would see each citizen required to buy a computer-readable card that would record personal details.
Risks antagonising? Civil rights campaigners no longer object to the idea? Excuse the French, but, what the fuck? Blair is a bare faced liar. The only other alternative to that is that he is so ignorant of goings on outside the cloistered world of 10 Downing Street as to be completely deluded.
I will try my damnedest to refuse to get an ID card and I will openly declare that I do not have one when the sun rises on that evil day. I urge as many people as possible to not just resist but to do so openly when the time comes. They will try to make it very difficult to live without one so we must make the system unworkable by using whatever civil disobedience and intelligent resistance is needed. Do not cooperate with your own repression. Time to get creative, people. Time to get angry.
Cross-posted from Samizdata.net
Telegraph reports that Tony Blair brushed aside Cabinet reservations last night and gave the Home Office the go-ahead to introduce compulsory identity cards following the discovery this week of a suspected British Muslim terrorist network.
Mr Blair said the deal he and David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, negotiated with the rest of the Cabinet no longer applied.
There is no longer a civil liberties objection to that. There is a series of vast logistical questions to be resolved and, in my judgment, logistics is the only time delay, otherwise it needs to move forward.
I am surprised. No longer a civil liberties objection to ID cards? That is a lie, as obvious as they get. Now I want to hear the clamour of protest and we shall do our best to add our voice.
So, ladies and gentlement. There we have it. I sincerely hoped that the day would never come. But it is here and what is it to be done?
For those who have not yet noticed, there is a new blog set up by one of our illustrious contributors, Trevor Mendham – the RFID Scanner. I guess the name is self-explanatory. Please read the suberb summary and arguments about RFID in the sidebar…
At a recent software conference, Sun Microsystems unveiled new software initiatives in areas related to RFID, 3-D interfaces, game technology and Linux. According to the CTO of Sun, the advances are further proof that “innovation [is] Sun’s DNA.” The article reviews Sun’s upcoming product offerings, noting that the company is actively looking to capitalize on hot new technology trends (e.g. a new RFID test center is on tap for May).
Also, Oracle plans to launch new RFID software offerings in an attempt to give retailers such as Wal-Mart the ability to “handle the deluge of data that RFID systems are expected to produce.” According to Oracle executives, “The IT systems most companies use today are not equipped for a world in which billions of objects report their whereabouts in real-time.” In addition to building in RFID data-processing capabilities in its databases and application servers, Oracle will release new device drivers in its software as well as “device driver frameworks.” Other big-name IT vendors, such as IBM and Microsoft, are also actively exploring new RFID technology offerings.
Finally, Delta Air Lines Inc. starts its second test of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to track bags today in hopes of improving accuracy over the 96.7% to 99.9% it achieved in a test last year. Delta will write information to the RFID bag tags at the request of the Transportation Security Administration, which has backed both tests, Rary said. That information will include the flight number, passenger name and what Rary called a “license plate” – a serial number that identifies each bag.
More on the ICAO story first noted by Trevor. An international aviation group is completing new passport standards this week, setting the groundwork for all passports issued worldwide to include digitized photographs that a computer can read remotely and compare to the face of the traveler or to a database of mug shots.
Supporters hope the system will banish fake passports and help fight terrorism. But critics say the standards will enable a global infrastructure for surveillance and lead to a host of national biometric databases, including ones run by countries with troubling human rights records.
The ICAO has already settled on facial recognition as the standard biometric identifier, though countries may add fingerprints or iris scans if they wish. The standards body will vote on Friday whether to adopt radio-frequency ID chips, such as those used in Fast Pass toll systems, as the standard method of storing and transmitting the digitized information.
Simon Davies, director of human rights group Privacy International, said the ICAO hasn’t consulted with human rights groups and shouldn’t be involved at all.
The most troubling aspect of international standard setting is that it often occurs without any national dialogue through the diplomatic process. Governments merely use the standards bodies as a convenient means of implementing controversial policy.
Privacy International suggested that the ICAO should have adopted a standard that would allow computers at a border to match the traveler to the digital photo on a passport, but that did not permit any government to keep a central database of photos.
The group argued that facial recognition is not the most accurate identification benchmark, and that matching a person to an old photograph is problematic.
As a follow up on the issue of privacy and personal data protection, here is an article that is a part of a special report on Protecting your ID by Silicon.com. Their conclusion is on the timid side but deserves to be noted:
It is tempting to say data will leak, as sure as vulnerabilities in complex software will be discovered or spam will be sent. But let’s not be fooled. Sensible data protection regimes around the world – and the UK should be applauded for its progress in this area – can make a difference. They will do much to protect some of our most valuable assets – the information that relates to us.
Mark Cornish of Adam Smith Blog has a post on privacy with very pertinent comments on consumer loyalty cards.
Rather than worrying about businesses using data in order to make their shopping experience more tailored to individual customers, we should be worrying about the number of civil servants allowed to snoop on their fellow citizens. According to the Foundation for Information Policy Research police and other officials are making around a million requests for access to data held by net and telephone companies each year. Customs and Excise have 200 staff authorised to use the snooping authority and had sought access 35000 times in the last year. The Inland Revenue accessing such data a further 11700 times in the last year. Do we allow too much snooping, or is it important for fighting crime?
I have not yet got around to everyday bashing of these everyday invasions of privacy. Some would say it is a trade-off – you get a discount and they get your data – but the balance of power is certainly not even. I especially detest the Nectar card that is a joint effort to collect customer data by Sainsbury’s, BP, Debenhams and Barclaycard, with Vodafone, Ford, Threshers, Victoria Wine, Wine Rack, Bottoms Up and Adams, Childrenswear, London Energy, Seeboard Energy, SWEB energy, All:sports joining gradually.
You can see why this line of apparel appeals to me…
No, that’s not some sick April Fool joke. In fact it’s a headline from the respected silicon.com
The article reports that civil liberties groups worldwide are objecting to plans by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to incorporate biometrics and RFID chips in all passports. This would be linked to a global identity database.
The plans, to be discussed by the ICAO next week, would make biometrics and tagging compulsory by 2015.
The ICAO’s preferred biometric is facial recognition, which was recently described by the Economist Intelligence Unit as having the potential to ensure that “privacy, as it has existed in the public sphere, will in effect be wiped out”.
Cross-posted from The RFID Scanner
Speaking at his monthly news conference, Prime Minister Tony Blair has repeated his support for David “Big” Blunkett’s plan to impose compulsory national Identity Cards on innocent British citizens.
Blair claimed that there was “no longer a civil liberties objection” to ID Cards and that the only thing holding them back was logistics.
This statement shows Blair’s lack of understanding of the concept of civil liberties. Identity Cards turn citizens into suspects and deprive people of privacy.
The civil liberties objections to ID Cards are as strong now as they were fifty years ago.
Update: In the Guardian: PM hints at imminent ID card move.
Cross-posted from The Chestnut Tree Cafe
A new nationwide police agency, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has been created in Britain.
The creation of a new “British FBI” to combat organised crime, with informants being offered reduced sentences to snitch on their gangland bosses, was given unanimous support in the Commons today – despite a controversial raft of new powers.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, told MPs he was in favour of allowing intercept material – bugged phone calls and emails – to be used as evidence, pending a review which would report back in June.
And he would also, for the first time, force professionals such as lawyers and solicitors to cooperate with police enquiries into organised crime, even if it meant betraying client confidentiality.
And thus people will simply stop asking for legal opinions just in case their shyster runs off to the police in order to cover their rear ends and thereby ensuring a steadily increasing climate of fear, distrust and uncertainty. The Blair-Blunkett government are nothing less that populist authoritarians.
Wired has a follow-up story on the case of Nebraska farmer and his identity card (Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of the state of Nevada, 03-5554). The justices of the Supreme Court heard arguments last Monday in a first-of-its kind case that asks whether people can be punished for refusing to identify themselves.
The court took up the appeal of a Nevada cattle rancher who was arrested after he told a deputy that he had done nothing wrong and didn’t have to reveal his name or show an ID during an encounter on a rural road four years ago.
Larry “Dudley” Hiibel, 59, was prosecuted, based on his silence, and finds himself at the center of a major privacy rights battle. Hiibel, dressed in cowboy hat, boots and a bolo tie, was defiant outside the court.
I would do it all over again. That’s one of our fundamental rights as American citizens, to remain silent.
The case will clarify police powers in the post-Sept. 11 era, determining if officials can demand to see identification whenever they deem it necessary.
Nevada senior deputy attorney general Conrad Hafen told justices that “identifying yourself is a neutral act” that helps police in their investigations and doesn’t – by itself – incriminate anyone. But if that is allowed, several justices asked, what will be next? A fingerprint? Telephone number? E-mail address? What about a national identification card? Hiibel’s lawyer, Robert Dolan, told the court:
The government could require name tags, color codes.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor pointed out the court never has given police the authority to demand someone’s identification, without probable cause they have done something wrong. But she also acknowledged police might want to run someone’s name through computers to check for a criminal history.
Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said if Hiibel loses, the government will be free to use its extensive data bases to keep tabs on people.
A name is now no longer a simple identifier; it is the key to a vast, cross-referenced system of public and private databases, which lay bare the most intimate features of an individual’s life.
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