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.”

Statement by National Co-ordinator Phil Booth

A NEW PARLIAMENTARY BATTLE - URGENT LOCAL GROUPS ACTION REQUIRED

This is one of the most serious threats to our liberty and privacy we've yet seen.

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 straightaway IN YOUR OWN WORDS to your MP via www.WriteToThem.com - 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 to 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 (details here: forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?p=100808) 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 bypass 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 the link: 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!

Matilda Mitford (NO2ID Local Groups Coordinator)
Phil Booth (NO2ID National Coordinator)

New Bill 'terrifying' assault on liberties

From the Independent:

Sweeping new powers allowing personal information about every citizen to be handed over to government agencies faced condemnation yesterday amid warnings that Britain is experiencing the greatest threats to civil rights for decades.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the pressure group Liberty, warned that the laws, published yesterday, were among a string of measures that amounted to a "terrifying" assault on traditional freedoms.

Proposals in the Coroners and Justice Bill include measures to authorise ministers to move huge amounts of data between government departments and other agencies and public bodies. Bodies that hold personal information include local councils, the DVLA, benefits offices and HM Revenue and Customs.

The Bill will allow ministers to use data-sharing orders to overturn strict rules that require information to be used only for the purpose it was taken. But it places no limit on the information that could eventually be shared between public bodies, potentially allowing vast amounts of personal data to be shared by officials across Whitehall, agencies or other public bodies.

To read NO2ID's response to the Bill click here.

Scottish schools force children to have 'entitlement' card

According to Scottish Television:

Education bosses have been condemned for trying to force pupils in secondary schools to carry ID cards by refusing to serve them school dinners if they do not have one.

Scottish Borders Council has told parents that pupils who do not have the electronic microchipped National Entitlement Card (NEC) will not be served in the school canteen.

Campaigners claim that this is a “back door” strategy to impose the Home Office’s National Identity Register on people in Scotland.

New police powers to hack without a warrant

The Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant, according to the Times.

The articles goes on:

"The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room.

"Material gathered in this way includes the content of all e-mails, web-browsing habits and instant messaging."

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, the human rights group, said she would challenge the legal basis of the move. “These are very intrusive powers – as intrusive as someone busting down your door and coming into your home,” she said.

“The public will want this to be controlled by new legislation and judicial authorisation. Without those safeguards it’s a devastating blow to any notion of personal privacy.”

She said the move had parallels with the warrantless police search of the House of Commons office of Damian Green, the Tory MP: “It’s like giving police the power to do a Damian Green every day but to do it without anyone even knowing you were doing it.”


Thanks to Andy.

Former DPP predicts information 'hellhouse'

In his most scathing attack yet on the proposed communications superdatabase, former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald has told the Guardian that government assurances on security would prove worthless and warned that a ‘hellhouse’ of personal private information would be created. The cost to the taxpayer could be as high as £12bn, twice the cost of the national ID card scheme.

In a consultation paper to be published next month, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will outline plans to invite the private sector to manage and run the database that will keep track of everyone’s phone calls, emails, texts and internet use. The paper follows on from Ms Smith’s October announcement to postpone the database legislation to allow her to set out proposals for the protection of civil liberties

Mr Macdonald told the Guardian: "The tendency of the state to seek ever more powers of surveillance over its citizens may be driven by protective zeal. But the notion of total security is a paranoid fantasy which would destroy everything that makes living worthwhile. We must avoid surrendering our freedom as autonomous human beings to such an ugly future. We should make judgments that are compatible with our status as free people."

You can read the full story here.

Local politicians unite against ID cards for foreigners

At the end of November, the first of seven centres due to issue 'ID cards for foreign nationals' opened for business. Birmingham NO2ID wrote a letter to local newspapers, signed by a broad range of politicans, to draw attention to what was going on.


Dear Editor

You may be aware that from this month the government begins issuing what it calls, with an obvious nasty spin, ‘ID cards for foreigners’. You may not be aware what this means for Birmingham. First affected will be students and those marrying Britons. The plan is that gradually residents from outside Europe will be fingerprinted and have to account for their movements. (Later, so would we all.)

Successful foreigners such as Randy Learner or Brad Friedel and the overseas students at Birmingham’s universities have a lot of choice where they study or exercise their talents. Some will decide Britain has become too unfriendly. When the US introduced more hostile visa conditions three or four years ago, the numbers applying to study there fell by 15% and Bill Gates complained that Microsoft could no longer hire some of the best software engineers.

If this scheme is continued it will lead to less fee-income and lower international status for Birmingham. British students will have to pay higher tuition to make up, and will have less money to spend with local businesses. Fewer of the world's star performers in every field will choose to make their homes here than do now.

We, the undersigned, value the contribution that these gifted people currently make to our institutions and our society. We think our country should treat them as guests, not criminal suspects. ‘ID cards for foreigners’ is not just a small-minded slogan – Birmingham will suffer culturally and economically.

Yours faithfully

Lorely Burt MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

John Hemming MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Dr Lynne Jones MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Andrew Mitchell MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Clare Short MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Councillor Matt Bennett
c/o Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

Councillor Iain Bowen
15 Coppice Oaks, Birmingham, B13 9DP

Councillor Gareth Compton
c/o Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

Councillor Alistair Dow
c/o Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

Councillor Jerry Evans
67 Dovey Road, Birmingham, B13 9NT

Councillor Roger Harmer
71 Oak Farm Road, Birmingham, B30 1ET

Councillor Colin Hughes
172 Daisy Farm Road, Birmingham, B14 4QQ

Councillor Jon Hunt
52 Perry Avenue, Birmingham, B42 2NE

Councillor David Osborne
27 Elan Road, Birmingham, B31 5EP

Councillor David Radcliffe
46 Regent Street, Birmingham, B30 2LG

Councillor Peter Smallbone
c/o Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

Councillor Robert Wright
c/o Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

Councillor Salma Yaqoob
c/o Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

Felicity Norman, Prospective MEP, Green Party
c/o West Midlands Green Party