MULE
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our RSS feed
24 November 2024

Manchester to be testing ground for ID card scheme

Article published: Sunday, February 1st 2009

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that Manchester is likely to become a "beacon area" experiment for the introduction of ID Cards, speaking at a visit to the city on 29 January.

The experiment would test how effective the ID card system is and how the population reacts to it.  An autumn start date is projected for the 18 month pilot, which will be combined with the introduction of mandatory ID cards for workers at Manchester Airport.

The scheme is likely to meet strong resistance from campaigners in the city. Earlier this week, local civil liberties campaign group NO2ID called on Manchester’s MPs to oppose radical data sharing powers which were debated in Parliament this Monday as part of the Coroners and Justice Bill.

The bill would allow ministers to access any private information about UK citizens, collected by any organization for any purpose, and share it with anybody of their choosing. For example, the Minister for Health could access Tesco’s club card database and see who’s buying more wine than the supermarket average.

The NO2ID campaign claim this legislation creates a true database state. Manchester Co-ordinator Dave Page said, "This bill will affect everybody in Manchester. People will not be able to trust any organisation to keep their personal information out of Government hands, and the Government admit that they cannot keep that information safe from identity thieves and hackers. They are trying to sneak this legislation into a boring Bill." 

"The so-called safeguards in the legislation are meaningless words put there to placate the unwary. Neither the people affected nor the Information Commissioner can stop this data sharing, and MPs cannot debate or amend the sharing orders," he concluded.

Manchester NO2ID supporters have written to John Leech, Gerald Kaufman and Tony Lloyd to protest the plans, and the group co-ordinator has contacted Paul Goggins and Graham Stringer.

Andrew Bowman 01/02/09

More: Manchester

Comments

No comments found

The comments are closed.

  • Culture

    Halloween creatures invade Manchester early: chance to win two tickets to the Illuminaughty Halloween party!

    A heavy mist suddenly falls on a darkened Manchester hiding from sight unspeakably hideous creatures. Drums can be heard in the distance lulling you into a hypnotic trance, the work of witches and daemons no doubt. Or perhaps Voodoo ring masters, descending onto the city streets armed with psychedelic beats banged out by their armies of musical Goblins possessed with the desire for mischief and fun. It must be that time of year again; it can only be the Illuminaughty Halloween party.

    Science Slam: a synergy of science and poetry transcends expectations

    Poetry and science are two things generally not associated with each other, in fact if you joined the two in a word association test you would be one step closer to a chemical cosh and your very own padded cell. However the audience attending the Science Slam at the packed out Nexus Art Cafe Thursday night will never again doubt the validity of the two pursuits being combined; though I can’t rule out they may end up bouncing of the walls of a padded cell at some time in the future.

    Review: Greater Manchester Fringe Festival – A Dream Play

    We were outside Nexus Art Café in the Northern Quarter, queuing, when a car raced up, the driver shoved a woman to the pavement and the performance began. This was the introduction to the character Aggie in A Dream Play by the Déjà Vu Ensemble, daughter of the gods, who has come to our world to learn what it means to be human.

This work by Manchester MULE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales.