Barcode Nation

The identity minister Meg Hillier has admitted that the government did not make its reasons for identity cards “clear enough”.
In a Westminster Hall debate, the Labour MP Mark Todd accused the government of not making a “promising start” and said the public’s trust must be won for identity cards to work.
He said: “The [...]

Following comments earlier in the week, Barcode Nation asked just who, other than Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith, is speaking out in support of the government?
Well today, we found out, after reading Jack Straw’s comments in the Guardian.
Not only does he take a swipe at tomorrow’s Convention on Modern Liberty:
More generally, despite the claims of a [...]

David Blunkett MP, the man who introduced the idea of ID cards during the Blair years has emerged as its latest opponent. Perhaps opponent is too strong a term, as the former Home Secretary does support the idea of cards for foreign nationals. But, when speaking at Essex University this week, he is expected to [...]

Persistence pays off! After battling for four years against a Freedom of Information request, ministers have been ordered to publish two reviews into the ID card scheme.
The Information Tribunal has ordered the reviews to be published within 28 days.
The independent “gateway” reviews from 2003 and 2004 will give an insight into the creation of the draft [...]

Is it me or is the civil liberties campaign building some real momentum?
Hot on the heels of the Scottish parliament and the body representing pilots, comes criticism from none other than Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5. We now have the former figurehead of the security services telling the Government they have gone [...]

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 [...]

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 Government are advertising in the Sunday Times for a commissioner to oversee the controversial ID cards.

I would like to add my name along with the Barcode Nation as a whole to the following letter from today’s Guardian:

With the approval of parliament, our government is planning to hold more information about us than ever before. It wants a national identity database of every UK citizen, identity cards for many UK residents, DNA [...]