ContactPoint petition

The ContactPoint database of the 11 million children in England is functioning but has aroused little protest. However, the Independent Schools Council (ISC) representing 500,000 pupils has always been opposed and states that the scheme is:

" disproportionate and unsafe; likely to be an expensive failure and put at risk more children than it helps."

It makes detailed points regarding security, interference with family life, child protection and well-being.

You can request that your child be 'shielded' but, unless you have a very good reason or are a VIP your request will probably be refused. You can also sign the e-petition because your child matters.

Change of Home Secretary but campaign goes on.

The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith is to step down from her Cabinet post. When Smith took over the Home Office one of her main tasks was to introduce ID cards and the National Identity Register. Once in post she announced that people were always coming up to her to say they were keen to obtain one!

So who will take over? Also, what next for the NO2ID campaign?

The incoming Home Secretary will have to decide whether to press ahead regardless or make concessions over this deeply unpopular scheme. The former option will inflate government spending and bring more resentment from an increasingly angry public and the latter would need careful examination to see whether there was a real climbdown here or yet more spin.

The NO2ID activists and all those interested in maintaining our civil liberties will be following events with interest.

ContactPoint child database goes live despite security fears

John Leyden writes in The Register:

The Government has announced plans to push ahead with the next phase in launch of a controversial child protection database, despite ongoing concerns about the security of data held on the system.

The delayed ContactPoint system, which is due to include names and addresses on every child under 18 in England, will be accessed by frontline care workers in real-life trials for the first time from this Monday.

Security experts contacted by El Reg remain concerned that information housed on the database might leak out despite ministerial assurances on security provisions that will accompany the roll-out of the directory system.

From Monday onwards social workers, police, schools and health officials will have access to data held on the ContactPoint database. The start of frontline trials, announced in the House of Commons last week by Children’s Secretary Ed Balls (Hansard extract below), follows repeated delays in the development of the system.

Manchester not so keen on ID's

Manchester Radio station Key 103 reports on its web site:

We’ve been on the streets of Manchester getting reactions to the announcement.

Everybody we spoke to said they would not be volunteering for the cards or they couldn’t commit at this point. It’s been a lukewarm reception in the North West.

You can listen to the vox pops here.

NO2ID Birmingham April meeting

This month's meeting will take place on Tuesday 28 April at 7:30pm. As usual, we'll be meeting in the Boardroom at Bennett's Bar, B2 5RS.

ContactPoint reveals details of 55,000 children

Jenni Russell writes in the Sunday Times:

Already ContactPoint is accidentally revealing the details of 55,000 vulnerable children, whose contacts are supposedly secret, every time the database is updated. At HM Revenue & Customs, more than 600 staff have been dismissed or disciplined in three years for snooping and one woman has been jailed for twice revealing the details of a battered woman’s whereabouts to her ex-husband. Local authority staff in 30 areas have been making unauthorised searches on the Department for Work and Pensions database, curious about the employment and income details of people they know. As the databases expand, the problem will only get worse.

Convention on Modern Liberty: Voices from the Crowd

Henry Porter interviewed at the Convention on Modern Liberty

David Davis MP interviewed at the Convention on Modern Liberty

Modern Liberties: Cambridge

A debate from the Modern Liberties event held in Cambridge.

The debate is entitled 'This house believes that civil liberties are under grave threat'. Speakers are David Howarth MP (Liberal Democrat), Professor Andrew Gamble (University of Cambridge), Bill Rammell MP (Labour), Tariq Sadiq (Parliamentary Spokesperson, Labour).

"Something is happening in the hearts and minds of our country"

A round up of the Modern Liberties Convention from the BBC.

British people have been "careless" with their civil liberties, but that is beginning to change, former shadow home affairs minister David Davis has said.

Mr Davis, who resigned from the Conservative front bench last year to fight a by-election on the issue of civil liberties, said the British public had been "casual" with their freedom and privacy in the past.

"They treat it carelessly, like a very old suit that they have had a very long time, [but] times are changing.

"Something is happening in the hearts and minds of our country."

Visit the Modern Liberties website for transcritps of speeches and debates.

NO2ID Birmingham speaking at local Modern Liberty event

For those not able (or willing) to travel to London on the 28th, our Treasurer Steve Ainsworth will be representing NO2ID Birmingham at a Modern Liberty satellite event at Aston University. There will be a live feed from London and a workshop entitled 'Preventing Violent Extremism? State surveillance and community organisation'.

Preventing Violent Extremism is a government action plan that will give £76 million to councils and community groups to help fund projects resisting violent extremism. The action plan seems to think that violent extremism only exists in Muslim communities and is part of the government's wider anti-terrorism strategy which, of course, gave rise to the ID Cards Act 2006.

Convention on Modern Liberty

A call to all concerned with attacks on our fundamental rights and freedoms - Saturday 28 February 2009.

What are the threats?
What can be done about them?
Why should everyone care?

For more information, including a list of speakers, go to www.modernliberty.net.

Information sharing Bill: update

Following NO2ID's warning over clauses in the Coroners and Justice Bill (see below), the Bill was debated in Parliament. Ben Russell, writing in the Independent, reported:

Dominic Grieve, the shadow Justice Secretary, said the plans would “drive a coach and horses through the traditional relationship between the state and individuals” to serve a “nebulous case of public good”. He warned that the Bill would allow ministers to share medical records with organisations that had no link to people’s health.

Mr Grieve said that clauses “tucked away” at the back of the Bill would give ministers “carte blanche to expand data sharing between officials across Whitehall, with local authorities and even with companies in the private sector”. He added: “This should be done with great caution and should not be open sesame to a vast increase in government power.”

David Howarth, the Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, said the data-sharing proposals were “outrageous”. He said: “These provisions will allow all the restriction on data sharing in the ID Cards Act to be overridden and drive a coach and horses through all other restrictions on medical and DNA records. These plans are not confined to government departments and other public authorities. They would allow unlimited data sharing between private sector organisations and government and the private sector, whether in this country or abroad.”