NO2ID is a UK-wide membership organisation, supported by subscriptions, donations and some grant funding, mainly from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd.[5] It has established and supports national and regional groups across the UK, one of the first being NO2ID Scotland, as well as a network of action-oriented local groups staffed entirely by volunteers.[6]
NO2ID grew rapidly during the initial Parliamentary battle against the UK ID cards legislation which, after the first Bill fell having failed to be passed before the general election in May 2005, was re-introduced and passed as the Identity Cards Act 2006 in March 2006. At that point, NO2ID had around 30,000 registered supporters and a network of around 100 other supportive organisations. A partial list of those organisations declaring public support can be found on the NO2ID website.[7]
As of December 2008, NO2ID had some 60,000 registered supporters and active groups in most major cities and many towns across the UK.
Campaign
NO2ID Pledge certificate
NO2ID launched its public campaign with an online petition that gathered over 3,000 signatures in a little over four weeks, submitted just as the Labour Government introduced the first Identity Cards Bill in November 2004.
In July 2005, NO2ID signed up over 10,000 people through PledgeBank, who pledged to refuse to accept an identity card and to contribute £10 to a fund to provide legal support for those prosecuted for resisting registration. A second identical pledge was launched to try to double the number of people publicly committed to resisting registration, but this failed to gain traction. Over two years later, in November 2007, the Pledge was called in and during the first fortnight alone over £40,000 was raised and put into a ring-fenced Legal Defence Fund.
In May 2006, NO2ID launched the "Renew for Freedom" campaign, urging passport holders to renew their passports to delay being entered on the National Identity Register.[8] This followed a comment made by Charles Clarke in the House of Commons that "anyone who feels strongly enough about the linkage [between passports and the ID scheme] not to want to be issued with an ID card in the initial phase will be free to surrender their existing passport and apply for a new passport before the designation order takes effect".[9] UK Passport Office statistics published the following year suggest that between 30,000 and 40,000 people renewed their passport in the first month of the campaign.
In September 2006, the NO2ID campaign started an appeal to track down the locations of the new outsourced Passport / National Identity Register "personal interview" registration centres at which the government planned to start face to face identity interviews. The project, named 'Authentication by Interview' (AbI), due to launch in October 2006, suffered a series of delays during which the campaign located 67 of the 69 interview centres - often revealing their location before Home Office ministers were able to do so in Parliamentary Answers.
In November 2007, the campaign launched the NO2ID Pledge – a new form of non-violent direct action: pre-emptive resistance. The NO2ID Pledge, supported by public figures including Nick Clegg and Shirley Williams, encourages people to resolve publicly and clearly that they will not to do those specific things that give the ID scheme its "parasitic vitality".[10]
Repeal of the Identity Cards Act
In September 2010, the Identity Documents Act 2010 was passed, repealing the Identity Cards Act 2006 and abolishing identity cards and the National Identity Register. At the introduction of the Bill by the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats coalition government in June 2010, former Home Secretary David Blunkett under whom the ID scheme began, acknowledged the success of the campaign: "I need to be contrite enough to congratulate Phil Booth from NO2ID, Dr Whitley from the London School of Economics identity project, and others, for the tremendous campaign that they have run, over the past five years in particular, to stop this scheme."[11] At third reading of the Bill in the House of Commons in September 2010, Home Office minister Damian Green acknowledged NO2ID's part in the abolition of the ID scheme, saying: "I also pay tribute to the NO2ID campaign, which can chalk itself up as one of the most successful pressure groups in history. It was formed less than 10 years ago, and within a decade of its formation it has achieved its principal aim."[12]
Related campaigns
During the course of its campaign against the database state, NO2ID has helped establish three other independent campaigns: The Big Opt Out[13] and medConfidential campaigning for medical confidentiality[14] and LeaveThemKidsAlone, a parent-led campaign against the fingerprinting of children in schools and nurseries.[15]
An identity document is a document proving a person's identity.
The Identity Cards Act 2006 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was repealed in 2011. It created National Identity Cards, a personal identification document and European Economic Area travel document, which were voluntarily issued to British citizens. It also created a resident registry database known as the National Identity Register (NIR), which has since been destroyed. In all around 15,000 National Identity Cards were issued until the act was repealed in 2011. The Identity Card for Foreign nationals was continued in the form of Biometric Residence Permits after 2011 under the provisions of the UK Borders Act 2007 and the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
Privacy International (PI) is a UK-based registered charity that defends and promotes the right to privacy across the world. First formed in 1990, registered as a non-profit company in 2002 and as a charity in 2012, PI is based in London. Its current executive director, since 2012, is Dr Gus Hosein.
ContactPoint was a government database in England that provided a way for those working with children and young people to find out who else is working with the same child or young person, making it easier to deliver more coordinated support. It was created in response to the abuse and death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié in 2000 in England. Various agencies involved in her care had failed to prevent her death, in particular by individually never realising other agencies had been in contact with Victoria.
In the United States, identity documents are typically the regional state-issued driver's license or identity card, while also the Social Security card and the United States passport card may serve as national identification. The United States passport itself also may serve as identification. There is, however, no official "national identity card" in the United States, in the sense that there is no federal agency with nationwide jurisdiction that directly issues an identity document to all US citizens for mandatory regular use.
The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including mass surveillance, internet filtering and censorship, and intellectual property rights.
The United Kingdom last had compulsory national identity cards during World War II when they were introduced for security purposes. Wartime ID cards were finally withdrawn by the Churchill government in 1952 because of the tension they created between the police and innocent citizens. Proposals to reintroduce them have been raised on a number of occasions since then. During the early 2000s and 2010s, organisations such as NO2ID campaigned against these proposals.
A government database collects information for various reasons, including climate monitoring, securities law compliance, geological surveys, patent applications and grants, surveillance, national security, border control, law enforcement, public health, voter registration, vehicle registration, social security, and statistics.
Dr Jerry Fishenden has been referred to as "one of the UK’s leading authorities in the world of technology", and appears regularly in a variety of mainstream media. He is also a frequent guest and keynote speaker on the conference circuit, drawing on his background across both private and public sectors.
The 5-11 Campaign is a single-issue, grassroots campaign that seeks to repeal the federal Real ID Act of 2005 and stop implementation of the Real ID Act in the United States. The campaign was founded on May 11, 2008, the date of enactment of the Real ID Act of 2005. The campaign works mainly through legislation submissions, grassroots activism, and grassroots community education.
Aadhaar (Hindi: आधार, lit.'base, foundation') is a twelve-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by all residents of India, based on their biometrics and demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2016 by the Government of India, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016.
Power 2010 was a campaign to reform the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Identity Documents Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which reversed the introduction of identity cards, and required the destruction of the information held on the National Identity Register.
The German Identity Card is issued to German nationals by local registration offices in Germany and diplomatic missions abroad, while it is produced at the Bundesdruckerei in Berlin.
A voter identification law is a law that requires a person to show some form of identification in order to vote. In some jurisdictions requiring photo IDs, voters who do not have photo ID often must have their identity verified by someone else or sign a Challenged Voter Affidavit in order to receive a ballot to vote.
The Ghana Card is the national Identity card that is issued by the Ghanaian authorities to Ghanaian citizens – both resident and non-resident, legal and permanent residents of foreign nationals. It is proof of identity, citizenship and residence of the holder. The current version is in ID1 format and biometric. It is issued by the National Identification Authority of Ghana and Regarded as a property of the country as such. In July 2023, through the initiative of the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, new card numbers were issued to newborn babies as part of pilot program to incorporate newborn babies unto the database.
The Lebanese identity card is a compulsory Identity document issued to citizens of the Republic of Lebanon by the police on behalf of the Lebanese Ministry of Interior or in Lebanese embassies and consulates abroad free of charge. It is proof of identity, citizenship and residence of the Lebanese citizens.
Biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their biological and behavioral characteristics, not to be confused with statistical biometrics; which is used to analyse data in the biological sciences. Biometrics for the purposes of identification may involve DNA matching, facial recognition, fingerprints, retina and iris scanning, voice analysis, handwriting, gait, and even body odor.
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The National Identity Card or NID card is a compulsory identity document issued to every Bangladeshi citizen upon turning 18 years of age by Bangladesh Election Commission (EC). The NID is also a biometric, microchip embedded smart identity card. The NID is required by Bangladeshi citizens for multiple essential public services & private services in Bangladesh. Initially, paper-based laminated NID cards were issued in 2006. Then, the paper-based laminated NID cards were replaced by the Smart NID cards in 2016. This was done to ensure security for the cardholder as well as prevent counterfeiting and fraudulence. Bangladesh government provides the Smart NID card with zero cost for all above 14 years Bangladeshi citizens.
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