[	Tags	|	identity activism	]
[	mood	|	scared	]

The government is trying to remove all limits on the use of our private information by officials. This means taking your information from anywhere and passing it anywhere they like - including medical records, financial records, communications data, ID information.

The Database State is now a direct threat, not a theory.

Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, due for its first debate in the Commons on Monday 26th January, would convert the Data Protection Act into its exact opposite. It would allow ministers to make Information Sharing Orders, that can alter any Act of Parliament and cancel all rules of confidentiality in order to allow information obtained for one purpose to be used for another.

This single clause is as grave a threat to privacy as the entire ID Scheme.

Combine it with the index to your life formed by the planned National Identity Register and everything recorded about you anywhere could be accessible to any official body.

Quite apart from the powers in the Identity Cards Act, if Information Sharing Orders come to pass, they could (for example) immediately be used to suck up material such as tax records or electoral registers to build an early version of the National Identity Register.

But the powers would apply to any information, not just official information. They would permit data trafficking between government agencies and private companies - and even with foreign governments.

THIS IS WHY WE MUST ACT NOW!

We need you to do three things:

1) Please write straight away IN THEIR OWN WORDS to your MP via Write To Them - do it this weekend, if not before. The Bill is being rushed through Parliament, even as we write.

Ask your MP to read Part 8 (clauses 151 - 154) of the Coroners and Justice Bill, and to oppose the massive enabling powers in the Information sharing clause. The Bill contains a number of controversial provisions, but to the casual reader it appears mainly to be about reforming inquests and sentencing. It is due its Second Reading in the Commons on 26th January 2009.

Request your MP demand that the clause be given proper Parliamentary scrutiny. This is something that will affect every single one of their constituents, unlike the rest of the Bill. There is a grave danger that the government will set a timetable that will cut off debate before these proposals - which are at the end of the Bill - are discussed.

2) Write letters to your local papers. Highlight the fact that the information sharing powers in this Bill are overwhelmingly unpopular.

A YouGov poll in the Sunday Times on 18th January shows that the public opposes these new powers by a factor of 3 to 1 against - 65% of people asked said they would give government too much power only 19% thought not.

The government can't pretend a popular mandate for what it is doing. And it is a mechanism designed to by-pass Parliament in future. It is being done only for the convenience of the bureaucrats.

3) Tell as many people and other groups (local political parties, union branches, the WI, churches, mosques, temples, etc.) as you can. And find out more yourself. We have created a new page on the website dedicated to data sharing which contains links to the key documents and a brief explanation of each.

Please read it, and pass on this link: http://www.no2id.net/datasharing.php

Let your friends, family, colleagues and anyone who might share our concerns know that the battle for their privacy is happening NOW. The more people we reach, the more we hope will act.

We really can't afford not to win. Good luck!

Phil Booth, National Coordinator, and Matty Mitford, Local Groups Coordinator will be coming to Reading this month for a meeting of all NO2ID groups in the Thames Valley, or nearby, area.

The meeting is open to everyone who wants fight against ID cards and the database state in their area.

DATE & TIME: Tues 28th October, 7pm

VENUE: At Reading Quaker Meeting House, 2 Church Street, Reading, Berks, RG1 2SB

We hope to establish some new local groups on the day, and will be previewing upcoming campaign activities.

• Come and learn how to set up a group and campaign in your area;
• Meet other campaigners and share ideas;
• Find out where the ID scheme and related initiatives are heading;
• Find out what you can do about it.

We don't distribute supporter's data to *anyone*, so no local group will know you are there until you choose to contact them. If you want to keep in touch with others, please join the mailing list of a local group near you.

Update: Now on Facebook.

From 1st September 2008, the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd has generously agreed to match, pound for pound, any *new* income that NO2ID receives. Which means that for every pound you give from 1st September NO2ID will receive TWO pounds to spend campaigning against the ID scheme and database state.

Please send your donation by cheque to our office (please mark your envelope 'JRRT'):

The NO2ID Campaign
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ

Or you can donate by credit card or via PayPal using the 'Donate' button on our website, http://www.no2id.net (left hand column)

Double your money offers like this don't come along very often so please, dig deep - encourage your friends, family and colleagues to make a donation. With your help we can stop this.

While you're at it, why not join the campaign, join a local group and take the NO2ID Pledge?