Identity Cards

Thu 20 Oct 2005, 21:02

Report on ID Cards Meeting in Oxford (in the right place now)

Please find below the report on the very successful meeting last Thursday:

A fight is on the cards!

The breadth of opposition to the Government’s proposed Identity Cards was confirmed at a public meeting held in Oxford on thursday, which attracted an audience from across the political spectrum.

The meeting was first addressed by Ed Vaizey, the new MP for Wantage. Ed is a Guardian columnist and a rising star in the Conservative Party. He began by affirming the importance of grass roots movements such as No2ID and warned that the ID Cards Bill would create a ‘sinister’ compulsory relationship between citizen and state.

Ed went on to state that an ID card would not solve any of the problems the Government had claimed for it. It would have little impact on benefit fraud (95% of which is due to over-claiming, rather than identity theft), and would not help combat terrorism (the terrorists of 9/11, the Madrid bombings and the London bombings all had valid means of identification). Indeed, an ID card might even aid the terrorists by introducing a ‘false sense of security’. Ed concluded by detailing the impracticalities of the card which made use of ‘untried technology on a scale never before envisaged’ and would be of enormous cost (£300-£350 at current estimates, payable by the individual or through taxation) – wasting money that could be used on improving the security services and increasing the numbers of police.

Anna Ellis then gave a presentation, explaining the technical deficiencies of the proposed card. Anna is a senior database administrator for a multinational blue chip company and has direct experience of the technology involved – which made her conclusions all the more chilling. Under the proposed Bill, the Government will be able to demand 51 classes of information on each citizen: enough to detail everyone’s life history. From here it would be a short step to introducing RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tracking on to the card – the technology already exists – meaning that the Government would know where every citizen was, all of the time.

Anna continued by drawing attention to the shortcomings of the cards. Identity theft would still be possible (fingerprints can be spoofed), and it would be possible for criminal gangs to scan the cards without the owners’ knowing it. Microsoft has advised that the encryption the Government plans to use will be insecure. Neither could the national database be 100% accurate. What’s more, the cards would wear out in five years, when their cost would have to be met again.

Two Liberal Democrats then took the stage. Steve Goddard, who was narrowly defeated by Andrew Smith in the Oxford East constituency, asserted that the cards would mean a ‘state leap to authoritarian control’, and warned that a future government could demand that more information on each citizen be placed on the National Identity Register. ‘Can future governments of the Right or Left be trusted?” Finally, Dr Evan Harris, MP for Oxford West & Abingdon and a former Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health, gave a talk on the human rights implications of the Identity Cards Bill. Evan is a member of the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights and suggested that the proposed Bill could be challenged as contravening Articles 8 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to privacy and the freedom of action and thought.

Representatives from the Green Party also emphasised the cross-party unity that existed in opposing ID cards. This, together with the depths of feeling shown in Oxford Town Hall on Thursday night, revealed that the Government will certainly have a fight on its hands in Oxford if it goes ahead with implementing its plans.

Phil Harriss
Press Officer, No2ID Oxford

NOTES TO EDITORS
1 Further information: Oxford No2ID Campaign: www.no2id-oxford.org email: admin@no2id-oxford.org; philip.harriss@ntlworld.com or phone Bill Meloti, chairman of Oxford No2ID

2 Oxford County Council recently passed a motion (by 56 votes to 8) stating that it will refuse to demand that claimants for its services should produce ID cards.

3 Oxford City Council passed a motion on October 4 reasserting its ‘deep-rooted opposition to the introduction of Identity Cards and a National Identity Register’. There were 31 votes in favour and 5 against.

4 The Third Reading of the Identity Card Bill is due to take place next Tuesday (18 October).

No2ID-Oxford.org Discussion Forums:
www.no2id-oxford.org/forum/

No2ID-Oxford.org Website/Email Administrator:
admin@no2id-oxford.org

No2ID Campaign: www.no2id.net