I don't know what your feelings are on this.
I personally am not averse to carrying an ID card from time to time - but I certainly don't want it to be obligatory, and I don't even mind it having my NI details on it if it is going to make life easier, but I feel strongly that the government is going way too far with the information that they want to register and the National Identity Register is extremely disturbing...
So, I am posting a fund-raising email from Our World Our Say in the hope that it might fire some of you up...
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The ID Cards Bill returns to Parliament in October and could become law imminently. Donations are urgently needed for our ID Cards Fighting Fund to place campaign adverts next week spelling out exactly what this authoritarian legislation means - and outlining precisely what voters can do to stop the Bill. http://www.securegiving.co.uk/donate_to/owos.html.
Dear Friend
"The Bill is designed to print across our foreheads a human barcode. Those who do not wish to understand the seriousness of what the Bill represents in terms of the change in the culture and society in which we live are failing in their duties as representatives of the public." - Edmund Garnier QC, Conservative MP for Harborough
I'm sending this urgent email to ask you to send a donation now to help stop the ID Cards Bill - simply go to http://www.securegiving.co.uk/donate_to/owos.html The Bill could become law very soon unless voters make their voices heard on a large scale.
This is a piece of legislation which is more suited to a police state than a western democracy. It seems to be about keeping tabs on all of us because none of the Government's justifications for the scheme stand up.
Did you know that ID Cards and the massive database underlying the scheme could cost an estimated £19.2 billion, that is a cost of over £300 per card. Immediate action is needed to stop this Bill, that is why I am making an urgent plea for donations. Our deadline is Monday, when we will meet to see how much money we have raised and how many adverts we can place. Our target is £25,000.
Our World Our Say needs your help to get across to voters exactly what this Bill means, and how they can pressure MPs to stop it. Your £20 donation - or whatever you can manage - will help us pay for adverts to get that message across. MPs supporting the Bill don't seem concerned about the civil liberties issues but they are sensitive about the cost.
The Bill's most alarming aspect is the National Identity Register, a database that will track your every action through officialdom right through your life. And although you may have committed no crime the state will be able to access your every detail. This smacks of Big Brother.
Whatever the Government says this Bill does not tackle any of the problems that it says it will. There is no evidence that ID Cards will stop benefit fraud or illegal immigration or identity theft or any of the other problems that our Government claims that the scheme is being brought in to tackle. They could actually make some of the problems worse - like identity theft. Importantly, as Charles Clarke admitted, ID Cards would not have stopped the London terrorist attacks - nor would they stop other attacks.
You and I know this is a deeply unpopular measure - only 10% of people support the Bill when told the true cost is likely to be £19.2 billion. Yet despite the enormous level of public misgiving the Government still seems determined to push ahead.
If voters don't speak up now on a large scale this piece of legislation will go through. It seems this Government that took us to war in Iraq on the basis of a lie is once again showing scant regard for our democratic processes.
When the Bill returns to Parliament this October we have an ambitious programme of action planned. Please send a donation now towards the £25,000 that we have budgeted for the campaign. First of all we must get the campaign adverts placed to get voters to deluge MPs with letters and phone calls of opposition to ID Cards. Then if we raise enough money we will buy billboards and adverts in local papers to get people to declare their homes and constituencies ID Card Free Zones.
£25,000 is a lot of money but not much when compared with the £17 million that the Government has already spent on consultants for ID Cards. £25,000 will take the anti ID Cards message to millions of voters and help mobilise opposition on the massive scale that is needed. We can only go ahead with the adverts and other action with your donations.
The voices of our 60,000 supporters are making the politicians sit up and listen. Tony Blair made a point of going on TV to deny a UK link with a possible US attack on Iran, following a campaign during the election by many thousands of OWOS supporters . Prior to this an Iran attack had not been an election issue.
OWOS action now aims to create ID Card Free Zones in constituencies across the country - as part of our overall campaign - to really make Tony Blair and Home Secretary Charles Clarke sit up and take notice.
Please consider giving £20, £50 or even £100.
150 donations of £20 could buy one full page advert costing £3,000.
£50 could help pay for 5000 ID Card Free Zone posters to go up in the windows of thousands of homes, signalling public opposition to this most illiberal of measures in constituencies of MPs who support ID Cards.
Please donate £20, £50 or whatever you can manage now by going to http://www.securegiving.co.uk/donate_to/owos.html.
The fact is this Bill is more suited to a police state than a modern democracy. Concerted action is needed now. Our deadline for donations is Monday, when we will meet to decide how many adverts we can place. We have little time left to stop this Bill becoming law. Please help now.
Thank you.
Rob Whitehead
Development Manager, Our World Our Say
To see our last ID Cards Bill advert go to
http://www.owos.info/documents/OWOSI340x262260605A-W3.pdf
You need a PDF reader to view the advert.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
We are preparing the new advert now and will put it on the web site soon.
You can download an ID card free zone poster from
http://www.owos.info/idcardfreezone/OWOS-IDCARDS.pdf
to put up in your window.
To see if there is a local no2id group to get involved with go to: www.no2id.net
For more information about id cards go to:
www.owos.info/idcardfreezone/
www.no2id.net
www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/privacy/id-cards.shtml
Our World Our Say works to give people a voice over world-changing issues. Through re-connecting ordinary citizens with their elected representatives and giving them a voice, we aim to give people power over their own futures.
