WHAT WE STAND FOR

NO2ID is a campaigning organisation. We are a single-issue group focussed on the threat to liberty and privacy posed by the rapid growth of the database state, of which "ID cards" are the most visible part. We are entirely independent. We do not endorse any party, nor campaign on any other topic.

We aim to publicise the case against state identity management among the general public, in the media, and at every level in government. NO2ID's members are from all sorts of backgrounds and hold all sorts of opinions on other questions. They almost certainly include people much like you. Please support us.

NO2ID comment:

AN UNPRINCIPLED SCHEME

The Home Secretary has announced the government's 2008 'Delivery Plan' [PDF] for the ID scheme, a plan that NO2ID showed - with leaked documents [PDF] - in January to be little more than a marketing exercise. Nothing has changed.

On the same day, almost a year late, the Treasury published the review that Gordon Brown commissioned from Sir James Crosby in 2006. No wonder it's been kept under wraps for so long. The government's own advisor lays out ten broad principles for the design of a "consumer-driven universal ID assurance system" scheme - and the Home Office ID scheme breaks them all.

1. Any scheme should be restricted to enabling citizens to assert their identity ... BROKEN

2. Governance should inspire trust. It should be independent of Government ... BROKEN

3. The amount of data stored should be minimised. Full biometric images (other than photographs) should not be kept ... BROKEN

4. Citizens should "own" their entry. It should not be possible, except for national security, for any data to be shared without informed consent ... BROKEN

5. Enrolment should minimise costs and give citizens a hassle-free experience ... BROKEN

6. To respond to consumers and give benefits, it should be capable of being rolled out quickly ... BROKEN

7. Citizens who lose cards or whose identity is compromised should be able to get it fixed quickly and efficiently ... BROKEN

8. The scheme's systems should work with existing, efficient, bank systems to reduce risks ... BROKEN

9. To engage consumers enrolment and cards should be provided free of charge ... BROKEN

10. The market should play a role in creating standards, to ensure ease of use and minimise costs ... BROKEN

And finally - unless we've overlooked something - the Home Office published the results of its latest survey [PDF]. The Home Secretary bluffs and blusters that the benefits of ID cards are "undoubted", but her own department's research shows that while three-quarters of people consider the claimed benefits to be "very important", only just over one quarter consider them to be "very believable".

Unprincipled. Unchanged. Unbelievable.

[For an explanation of how each principle has been broken, see NO2ID's press release on the Crosby Review.]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT 'ID CARDS'

There's a lot of confusion about the government's proposed national identity scheme, and it doesn't help that the Home Office often gives misleading information.

Our summary of the scheme is here.

Answers to selected Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are here.

The 'database state' is what we call the tendency to try to use computers to manage society by watching people. There are many interlocking government plans that do this. Together they mean officials poking into your private life more than ever before.

The list of database state initiatives on which NO2ID is campaigning, along with a wide range of other organisations is here.

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