Hot on the heels of the Scottish Government’s anti-ID statement comes the news that the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has said its pilots will refuse to take part in the proposed ID card trial for airport workers.
 
Pilots who refuse to register for an ID card would not be granted airline passes enabling them to [...]

Long Live Devolution!

The Scottish Government has written to Westminster expressing their continued opposition to the national identity scheme. In a move that’s sure to add weight to the argument from the anti-ID brigade, Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing MSP said the scheme posed an “unacceptable threat to citizen’s civil liberties and privacy”. He also criticised [...]

Civil liberties campaign group NO2ID added another to their growing number of local groups this weekend with the launch of NO2ID Winchester.

There’s an interesting post over at the Expat Focus blog on the experience of British people living in countries where carrying ID is mandatory.
 

Even in EU countries some police officers view it as suspicious and then you have two things going against you - firstly you’re a foreigner and secondly a foreigner without identity! The [...]

Leading transsexual activists have criticised the government’s plans for identity cards. 
 
Gender Spectrum UK has launched an online petition aimed at ensuring the safety of people “who present themselves in a manner which is not the same as the gender to which they were assigned at birth.”

Current proposals will allow those undergoing treatment to change their [...]

Every so often it’s good to take time out and remember just why we campaign so relentlessly to protect our human and civil rights.
 
In case your motivation is on the wane, have a read of the Guardian Weekly’s report on Sri Lanka’s Civilian Tragedy. Here’s an excerpt:
 

“These days I often visit the north of Sri [...]

The first UK ID cards have already been issued - but UK authorities have no way of reading the data stored on them.
An FoI request by Silicon.com revealed that no police stations, border entry points or job centres have readers in place for the card’s biometric chip.
Cambridge University security expert Richard Clayton told silicon.com:
“If this [...]

The Number10 ePetitions website was set up some time ago to allow the public to get together and demand a response from Government on an issue. This one caught my eye:
 

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to hold a referendum on ID cards and the National Identity Register
 
In view of the government’s inability to [...]

The Independent’s Home Affairs correspondent Ben Russell reports the parliamnetary debate on the data sharing clauses in the Coroners and Justice Bill:
But 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 [...]

The great and the good (sic) of the world’s identity technologists will come together in Abu Dhabi in February. The Citizen ID Forum describes itself as “the global symposium on the digitalisation of citizen identification documents”
A similar event held in 2008 was described thus:
“It really gave us the opportunity to see the best technologies available [...]