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$page_title = "stop the database state";
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<h1><a name="stand"></a>What We Stand For</h1>

<p>NO2ID is a campaigning organisation. We are a single-issue group focussed
    on the threat to liberty and privacy posed by the rapid growth of the database
    state, of which "ID cards" were the most visible part. We are entirely independent.
    We do not endorse any party, nor campaign on any other topic.</p>

<p>We aim to publicise the case against state control of personal identity among
    the general public, in the media, and at every level in government. NO2ID's
    members are from all sorts of backgrounds and hold all sorts of opinions on
    other questions. They almost certainly include people much like you. Please
    support us.</p>
<br />

<h3><a name="comment"></a>NO2ID comment</h3>
<h1 style="clear:none"><a name="2011-06-12-carrying-on"></a>Why NO2ID <strong>must</strong> carry on</h1>

    <p>National ID cards are gone. But the infrastructure survives as
    the <a href="http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/while-in-uk/do-i-need-brp/responsibilities/">biometric
    permits for foreign residents</a>. Mass-surveillance has not 
    disappeared. The coalition's promises to "<em>roll back 
    the database state</em>" are ineffectual. Indeed official
    demands for personal information are multiplying:</p>
        
    <ul> 
        <li>Travel by car or motorbike and your number plate is read
        by a network of cameras and <a href="http://www.npia.police.uk/en/10505.htm">that record of
        movements passed to a central store</a>. </li>
        
        <li>Leave or enter the country and all travel details you give
        will be put on a database that is available to dozens of UK
        and foreign agencies. 
        <a href="http://amberhawk.typepad.com/amberhawk/2011/04/data-protection-uk-wants-to-extend-pnr-directive-despite-proportionality-fears-and-the-lack-of-evidence.html">The
        UK is lobbying for this to be written into EU law</a>.</li>
        
        <li>Visit the doctor and the details may be captured. A new
        agency is planned to continue centralising and sharing of
        medical records, expanding the role of the existing Health and
        Social Care Information Centre.</li>
        
        <li>Monitoring of telephone and internet use continues to
        increase; all 'traffic data' is <a href="http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2009/04/06/internet-data-retention-law-comes-into-force-39637592/">now
        kept for inspection, by law</a>.</li>
        
        <li>Ever more public bodies are getting powers to share the
        information they have about you, on fine-sounding pretexts.</li>
    </ul>
        
    <p>And &hellip;</p>
    
    <ul>
        <li>To tie it all together, perhaps, a more subtle government 
        scheme for "identity assurance" is <a
        href="http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2011-05-18a.17WS.1">on the agenda</a>.
        <strong>Depending on how that is implemented it could
        be harmless; or it could be very bad news indeed for privacy
        and personal liberty.</strong></li>
    </ul>
        
    <h3>Please help us now</h3>
    <p>NO2ID identified the dangers of "the database state" back in 
    2004. It is still the only organisation specifically
    dedicated to tackling it. Some people think it is all over.
    But privacy needs defending more than ever. We will continue
    to oppose dangerous new schemes, but also press for positive 
    changes:</p>
    
    <ul>
        <li>protections in law for privacy that are available to
        everyone</li>
        <li>the right to control your own personal information</li>
        <li>entitlement to compensation if your privacy is abused</li> 
    </ul>
        
    <p>We have done much in the last six years. We can do more. But
    we need your help. If you think privacy is worth fighting
    for, then please <a href="/get-involved">support us</a>.</p>

<h1><a name="about"></a>What you need to know about the Database State</h1>
<p><img src="/images/brandedArms.jpg" alt="Brands are for cattle"
     width="150" height="155" style="float:right;margin:0 0 5px 5px;"/> The 'database
    state' is what we call the tendency to try to use computers to manage society
    by watching people. There are many interlocking government plans that do this.
    Together they mean officials poking into <em>your</em> private life more than
    ever before.</p>

<p>The list of database state initiatives on which NO2ID is
  campaigning, along with a wide range of other organisations, is <a
  href="/dbstate"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p>

<p>There was a lot of confusion about the government's proposed
  National Identity Scheme, and it didn't help that the Home Office
  often gave misleading information. Our summary of the scheme is <a
  href="/idschemes/whyNot"> <strong>here</strong></a>.</p>

<p>Answers to selected Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are <a
  href="/idschemes/FAQ/"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p>

<br />

<p><a name="archive"></a><a href="/fpArchive">Front Page Archives</a></p> <br />

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