Slashdot Mirror

Breaking news today, Britons will be denied a passport if they don't submit to the world's most intrusive mass-surveillance system

People who refuse to give up their bank records, tax records & details of any benefits they've claimed and the records of their car movements for the last year, or refuse to submit to an interrogation on whether they are the same person that this mountain of data belongs to will be denied passports from March 26th.

The Blair Govt has already admitted that this and other data will be cross-linked so that the Home Office and other officials can spy on the everyday lives of innocent Britons.

Britons were already the most spied upon nation in Western Europe. Data-mining through this unprecedented level of mass-surveillance allows any future British govt to leapfrog even countries like China and North Korea.

It will never work. Humans are about as sophisticated as image recognition will get.

Besides, your car will be tracked via ANPR this year if it isn't already, your mobile phone is trackable under RIPA (the law this report is on), every time you use a credit/store card - that pinpoints you too.

And the ID database seeks to collate all this data together.
http://www.bristol-no2id.org.uk/blog/?page_id=5

http://www.bristol-no2id.org.uk/blog/?page_id=5

According to Prevent Genocide International, No other factor [than ID cards] was more significant in facilitating the speed and magnitude of the 100 days of mass killing in Rwanda. About 1 million people butchered.

From the same page:

In Nazi Germany in July 1938, only a few months before Kristallnacht, the infamous "J-stamp" was introduced on ID cards and later on passports. The use of specially marked "J-stamp" ID cards by Nazi Germany preceded the yellow Star of David badges. In Norway, where yellow cloth badges were not introduced, the stamped ID card was used in the identification of more than 750 Jews deported to death camps in Poland.

They also provide a 'nice' table:

Genocide: Nazi Germany (1938-1945), Rwanda (1990-1994)

Mass Expulsion: Ethiopia (Persons with Eritrean affiliation 1998), Bhutan (Lhotshampas, 1991), Vietnam (Hoa ethnic Chinese 1978-1979), France (Alsace-Lorraine 1918-1920)

Forced Relocation: USSR (ethnic Koreans 1937, Volga Germans 1941, Kalmyks, Karachai, 1943, Crimean Tatars, Meshkhetian Turks Chechens, Ingush, Balkars 1944, ethnic Greeks, 1949)

Group Denationalization: Cambodia (ethnic Vietnamese 1993), Myanmar (Rohingya Arakanese 1992), Syria (Kurds 1962)

In regard to the UK cattle tagging ID card system, The Times reported:

David Blunkett, was no better. On the subject of identity cards he once said: No one should fear correct identification. Those words always remind me of one the more distressing details of the Eichmann trial: how he told his executioner that the fate of those killed in the Holocaust was sealed by their answers to the 1939 census on religious background recorded on paper for a Hollerith machine, an early mechanical computer. Quite literally, their cards were marked.

Needless to say, lesser abuses than these are far more common.

The UK system is unbelievably scary. Going far beyond the punchcard Hollerith machine, our ID cards are backed by the National Identity Register, a database designed to merge all government databases and commercial data trails into a personal surveillance dossier that makes 1984 look respectful.

So scared is the Govt of the public finding out about this that they are secretly forcing passport renewers on to this Orwellian database from March 26th.

They are also forcing doctors to betray their patients' confidence and upload your private medical records to another insecure national database, again without telling you.

I'm sorry if you haven't been warned about this before: NO2ID has a budget around 1000 times smaller than the Home Office but you do still have a few weeks to protect yourself. Click the 3 links above and most importantly, read the NO2ID newsletter.

I've always wondered why New Labour have passed laws to rewrite the constitution at whim, to arbitrarily punish innocent people and perform mass-surveillance at a level that Orwell never dreamed of... knowing that the people they most fear, the Tory Party, would be guaranteed to win the next election.

Britain has legislated to become the first (and hopefully only) Orwellian surveillance society. We are already a surveillance society according to the Information Commissioner.
But it will be 1000x worse should we let the Govt connect all its databases together via the new ID database (NIR). All of the Govt's main policies over the last 6 months have involved coercing the public on to new databases. The most insidious is the forced and secret registration of passport applicants on to the ID database, starting in the next 6 months.

If you want Britain to remain a free country, I strongly urge you to check out the NO2ID campaign.

Linking medical, email, phone, bank & credit card records will be as simple as putting your new National Identity Registration number on those existing databases and allowing the Govt to query them.

Furthermore, you will be denied a new passport unless you give up this information, according to the ID Cards Act.

This comes two months after Gordon Brown was reported to be "planning a massive expansion of the ID cards project that would widen surveillance of everyday life by allowing high-street businesses to share confidential information with police databases."
He described how "police could be alerted as soon as a wanted person used a biometric-enabled cash card or even entered a building via an iris-scan door."

More details of how the National Identity Register will be the hub of Britain's Surveillance State.

NO2ID is an increasingly successful campaign, which has helped mastermind the recent publicity. We are highly respected in both Parliament and the media. Join the monthly mailing list so that you can keep one step ahead of the Govt's attempts to snoop on you.

Unfortunately, this threat is very real. Stealth data collection through passport interviews is planned to start within 6 months - although there is still time to renew. Please forward this information on to anyone you think might like to keep Britain a free country.

Tony Blair has called for all innocent citizens to be forcibly DNA swabbed. Since the Govt stated they would link the police databases to the National Identity Register (pg 5), this would mean our DNA, our tax/benefits records and detailed tracking of our car movements via ANPR will be cross-indexed into a single surveillance dossier.

Furthermore, you will be denied a new passport unless you give up this information, according to the ID Cards Act.

This comes two months after Gordon Brown was reported to be "planning a massive expansion of the ID cards project that would widen surveillance of everyday life by allowing high-street businesses to share confidential information with police databases."
He described how "police could be alerted as soon as a wanted person used a biometric-enabled cash card or even entered a building via an iris-scan door."

More details of how the National Identity Register will be the hub of Britain's Surveillance State

Yes, this is Tony Blair's plan.

http://www.bristol-no2id.org.uk/blog/?page_id=5

Why on earth is it being left to the Information Commissioner to pursue spammers? Does he not have enough on his plate with the British Govt...

a) ... about to reverse the legal right to privacy trying create the world's most intrusive database on citizens.
b) ... using taxpayers' resources to frustrate hundreds of thousands of valid requests under the Freedom of Information Act?

Maybe it's the history of the British fight against the IRA, but it seems to me that the British people have been a little more tolerant of state intrusion than Americans. What I infer is happening now is that the overboard Orwellianism of the current British government is reaching a tipping point where a lot of Brits are wondering, "How much is too much?".

Your replies from Brits so far are quite informative in the sense of why Britons have been so tolerant. They have no idea how close Britain is to a totalitarian dictatorship.

This Government has already passed 2 truly totalitarian laws:

1. The Civil Contingencies Act, which is almost exactly the same as Hitler's Enabling Act.

2. The Identity Cards Act, which not only forces passport renewers on to a database, it also connects that database with 4 other significant databases (tax system, police records, ANPR & passports) thus creating the world's most intrusive database. It does not stop there either. There is nothing preventing our medical records, phone records, email & surfing records, credit card records etc being linked to the meta-database.

The Govt is trying to get a 3rd totalitarian law through, the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. This, like the Civil Contingencies Act, grants almost unfettered power to a handful of people. While CCA requires an emergency to be declared and cannot abolish elections or amend the European Convention of Human Rights (its only limitations), legislation under LRRB currently requires approval (without debate) by both Houses and likewise cannot amend the ECHR. It's amended version is no less dangerous AFAIK.

There are also 4 anti-terror laws, all worse than your Patriot Act and two of which have been ruled to contravene the ECHR (both for locking people up without trial).

Thanks to people like Lord Phillips, the House of Lords has been doing a reasonable job of standing up to Blair's executive, with the two obvious exceptions above. They have very little power (which they are reluctant to use), merely being able to hold up a Bill for about a year. The Law Lords are not able to overturn laws, but simply rule them incompatible with other laws like the ECHR.

As I implied at the start, the reason we've allowed this is that almost no-one knows. I bet less than 1% of Britons have even heard of the Civil Contingencies Act.

We are not taught to scrutinise our Govt as I understand Americans are. We haven't had to fear our Govt in modern times, and most people who did were left wingers who voted for Blair and have been slow to realise how dangerous he is.
We also don't realise that Britain is an elective dictatorship which has respected freedoms only because of the benign nature of its governments. The Conservative opposition has been remarkably quiet as has the media until the last few months. I kid you not, if Britain survives this attack on our freedoms (and that's a big if) it will be because of blogs, unfunded campaigns, leaks and Blair's mistakes like Iraq & pushing for 90-days detention.

I wrote about Britain's remaining safeguards here.

Would ID cards have helped?

Don't make me laugh. My guess is that the Govt will continue to make vague references to ID cards somehow preventing terror. Charles Clarke was quick to point out that ID cards would have made no difference to 7/7 and obviously telling the truth did him no favours.

No, ID cards will either bankrupt the country or turn us all into real-life Sims any future government can persecute at will.

As soon as they can get the tech working, passport applicants/renewers will be entered on the National Identity Register (NIR). There is no opt out.

This NIR is initially planned to be linked to your tax records, police records, passport records and even the new Automated Number Plate Recogntion system which tracks all your car journeys.

This, of course, is just the beginning, but is already the world's most intrusive database on citizens, going further than even China. If Brown gets his way, it looks like your credit card transactions, phone calls & emails will soon be able to automatically flag you as a possible troublemaker.

Britain's democracy has failed to stop this. It will likewise not stop future governments of any variety abusing you via your data.

NO2ID has known about this all along and we have been telling anyone who would listen. The campaign is extremely well run and full of great people, but we need YOUR help to stop this Orwellian nightmare.

ABG - unlike AC, I am proud to share a species with you.

I don't have time to format a Slashdot response.

You might already know the Orwellian extent of the ID database. If not please read:
http://www.bristol-no2id.org.uk/blog/?page_id=5

There are some links there about other terrifying laws Blair has passed.

http://www.bristol-no2id.org.uk/blog/?page_id=5

Believe it or not, there is no law against Govt spying on UK citizens. Well, there is the retrospective Human Rights Act's Right to Privacy but even Cameron wants to get rid of that.

No, instead we have laws like the ID Cards Act where everyone with a passport/driving license will be forced to turn up for interrogation, fingerprinted like a criminal and forced on to give up keys to their records on the passport, tax, benefits and new ANPR databases. All to be connected to form the world's most intrusive mass surveillance database - even worse than anything China or North Korea have.

Oh, and the Dictatorship Bill which passed on Tuesday.

Or the human cattle ID cards Act, which creates by far the world's most intrusive Big Brother database on citizens by linking up 5+ previously unconnected databases...

The Dictatorship Bill, also called the Abolition of Parliament Bill, Totalitarianism Bill or (by the Govt) the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill is nothing less than a naked grab for power. After being amended 3x, the Bill was passed in the form described here.

LRRB enables ministers to rewrite our constitution with only rudimentary scrutiny. Consider the extraordinary mass surveillance / coersion implications of the ID Cards Act. Even the well-organised opposition could not stop this legislation.

What chance then of:
1. Spotting obscure but deeply damaging clauses hidden in the boring legislation?
2. Motivating the Tories, LibDems and enough New Labour drones to subsequently block it?

LRRB is then carte blanche for Blair to do what he will with this country. What can we deduce of his plans?

New Labour already rejected an amendment to stop LRRB re-writing our most important constitutional laws. They then promised to introduce new amendments fulfilling the same thing. Our skepticism was once again justified. This is more than enough evidence that Blair wants dictatorial powers.

LRRB is obviously a precursor to passing laws which Parliament wouldn't otherwise pass.

Considering the deeply scary laws he's got through Parliament, the likelihood is that he wants something so badly, and so unpalatable that he won't even risk presenting it for proper Parliamentary scrutiny.

- He does not need Parliamentary approval to invade Iran
- He already has Hitler's Enabling Act.
- He has already passed RIPA and the ID Cards Act for more Big Brother snooping than anything China or North Korea have.
- He already has locked up people for 3 years without trial or even being questioned - although he has been twice been 'told off' for breaching the Human Rights Act in this way.

I did not believe that he needs LRRB to repeal the HRA - indeed one welcome amendment was to exclude the HRA from being amended. When every other explanation has been ruled out, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be considered. I think something much worse is coming although I dread to think what.

Furthermore, the passport applications will be denied unless you give up your passport number, DVLA number and NI number ie indexes to major UK databases on:

1. international travels.
2. car travels via national ANPR.
3. tax/income & disability benefits.

We're also being given a new unique number for what can be no other purpose than indexing our medical records, bank records, phone & email records and potentially even dissident Slashdot posts like this one.

For those without a background in databases, I've explained this further here.

If that wasn't bad enough, the cards will also contain RFID chips.

It's also clear that the Government want to make us dependent on ID cards
"the ID card is now an accepted part of accessing many public- and private-sector services."

This would be less scary if Blair's Government hadn't lied at every opportunity, attacked one of our most prestigious academic institutes for daring to offer a less intrusive scheme and wasn't passing Bills to do away with our democratic process.

So what can you do to help?

1. Join No2ID, the extremely well-run campaign that is the fastest growing in the UK.
2. Tell all your UK friends, especially influential ones what is happening. Tell them to Renew their passports for Freedom in May.

Oh, did anyone mention already that our ID cards will contain RFID chips?

http://www.bristol-no2id.org.uk/download-files/Bur nham.jpg

Our ID cards are nothing like what they have on the continent. It is an attempt to create by far the world's most intrusive mass surveillance system.

CCA is pretty much the same as Hitler's Enabling Bill. Didn't stop him.

While LRRB says it's about secondary legislation, it can be used to amend our most important laws eg Bill of Rights, HRA, CCA, Parliament Act. It can even amend itself (although how much more enabling it can get I don't know).

In regard to your earlier question, I don't remember Thatcher locking up innocent people indefinitely, going to war on Iraq or condoning torture.

That's a really bizarre way of saying that no single group can amend the constitution without the other groups' permission.

Thanks to our lack of a codified constitution, we have lost the right to a fair trial! We can be legally arrested for pretty much anything and have DNA samples kept permanently on record. We have lost a second House with the power to keep the first House in check. Therapist-client confidentiality privilege is gone etc

Our Govt is now seeking to deprive us of passports unless we join the world's most intrusive mass-surveillance scheme.

Other attacks on British freedom here.

Main comment

His Government just blocked an amendment that would prevent LRRB being used to abolish elections, imprison everyone etc.

We have already had the Civil Contingencies aka Nazi Enabling Act which gives near unlimited powers to Ministers in the event of an emergency (eg burning down the Reichstag).

We have already had the dreadful Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act forced upon us. RIPA can force ISPs to secretly install mass surveillance equipment or imprison you if you do not release your PGP keys.

And the insidious Identity Cards Bill is hanging like a Sword of Damocles over British privacy and freedom. ID cards are just a front for an unbelievably intrusive database that would make the Stasi blush. The excellent No2ID campaign cannot persuade the House of Lords to hold this up for much longer...

Other attacks on British freedom here.

As Woodrow Wilson pointed out:

Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it... The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.

Whether you consider it your duty to protect Britain's freedom or whether it is merely expedient because you'd like to live here, please write to your MP and join the many campaigners who are dedicating their lives to this fight.

Things are much worse than that. We've started locking up innocent people indefinitely, using anti-terrorist laws on Holocaust survivors and have introduced a Hitleresque dictatorship law.

Next on the agenda is the world's most intrusive mass surveillance system and a law to bypass Parliamentary scrutiny.

We are heading towards a police state faster than 1930s Germany and probably less than 0.1% of the population are doing a thing to stop it.

It's scary to see how quickly the defences against fascism which we've evolved over a millenium have been dismantled. Assuming you're a US citizen, defend your Constitution with your life. And stop rendition and Guantanamo, for God's sake.

I have been talking with the House of Lords (our second House) about opposing the ID Cards Bill and although they understand the Orwellian implications, they're scared to oppose it in case Blair abolishes the Lords altogether.

Most people don't know how scary Britain has become in the last 12 months. In addition to their other Nazi laws, only yesterday it was leaked that Blair is going to tap MPs phones.

Most people don't know how scary Britain has become in the last 12 months. In addition to their other Nazi laws, only yesterday it was leaked that Blair is going to tap MPs phones.

The US spy on the UK communications and the UK spy on the US and UK communications. Then they compare notes.

The UK is in the process of building the world's most intrusive mass surveillance system, including car tracking, email surveillance, child databases etc.

It all starts by numbering everyone under the ID card legislation:
http://www.bristol-no2id.org.uk/blog/?page_id=5

Convenient for any future dictator.

Your new identity number is also designed to link together every civil record in the country into a personal Stasi dossier.

Very convenient.

I wrote about this yesterday.

Oh, did you also know this Government passed an identical law to Hitler's Enablement Act? This law enabled Hitler to assume absolute power after he burned down the Reichstag and blamed it on communists.

My Grandfather fought Hitler across two continents to protect Britain from this kind of totalitarianism. The least we can do is help the resistance campaigns at Privacy International and No2ID.

I wrote about this
    yesterday.

Oh, did you also know this Government passed an identical
    law to Hitler's Enablement Act? This law enabled Hitler to assume
    absolute power after he burned down the Reichstag and blamed it on communists.

My Grandfather fought Hitler across two continents to protect Britain from
    this kind of totalitarianism. The least we can do is help the resistance
    campaigns at Privacy International
    and No2ID.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.