The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) has announced that “Police officers across the country will soon be able to check an individual’s identity at the roadside.” [1] The announcement does not offer any relevant facts about the system being used, other than it saves officers half an hour compared with identifying a person by other means. But most people are not on police records and cannot be correctly identified this way. Unless you are reasonably suspected of an offence you cannot in any case be compelled to prove your identity to police.

Privacy group NO2ID [2] condemns the way the release uses one anecdote about the capture of a fugitive rapist to justify a significant change in the relationship between police and public. Instead of spinning emotive cases the NPIA should answer the following factual questions about the trial:

1. The fingerprints themselves are not retained, but what is done with other information about the stop? Is the fact of an individual being checked this way retained on any database?
2. What false match rates have been recorded in practice? [3]
3. What multiple match rates have been recorded in practice?
4. How many people were fingerprinted?
5. In how many cases did this lead to no further action?
6. How many people refused to ‘volunteer’?
7. How many people were arrested after having refused the ‘voluntary’ fingerprinting?
8. In how many cases did this lead to no further action?
9. How did rates of arrest and fingerprinting compare with those of equivalent stops not using the machine?

Phil Booth, National Coordinator of NO2ID said:

Saving police time is undoubtedly a good thing; but fingerprinting of people before arrest is generally a bad thing. This system makes that much more likely. Just how ‘voluntary’ is it going to be in practice?

The official assumption that checking people against a database at every opportunity is useful, means anyone who objects to the violation of their privacy and anyone marked by it as ‘known to police’ will be treated as a criminal. As they propose to use it, this machine is a suspicion generator.’

-ENDS-

Notes for editors:
1) NPIA press release March 4 2010. Reported in, e.g.
Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255623/Police-forces-equipped-mobile-scanners-enable-identity-checks-street.html
The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-to-be-equipped-with-mobile-fingerprint-scanners-1916123.html

2) NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the database state. See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate for a list of ‘database state’ initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing, and http://www.no2id.net/datasharing for how it all fits together.

3) Any automatic biometric matching processes are statistical in nature. Matching a known individual to their own fingerprint ‘1 to 1′ matching, is fairly reliable, if not perfect, and can produce false negatives, where the system finds no match where there is one. Matching a random individual to a named fingerprint out of a large number, ‘1 to N’ matching, is a much more difficult problem, even if the individual is guaranteed to be among those in the database. It can produce both false negatives, and, more worryingly for this case, false positives, where the system declares the person fingerprinted close enough to be a match for one or more of the database when they are not.

For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please contact:
Phil Booth (National Co-ordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net) on 07974 230 839
Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308
Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166

The National Identity Scheme is to be pushed to young people in London from this Monday 8th Feb. The NO2ID campaign [1] is warning anyone considering applying to read the small print before taking on what may be the most serious commitment they ever make.

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) claims that ID cards are a “convenient” form of proof of age and will therefore be particularly useful for late teenagers. It is not so forthright about the fact that, once on the system, you have obligations for the rest of your life. You must look after the card and report if it is lost, stolen, or damaged, and you must keep your official record on the National Identity Register [2] up to date for the rest of your life. There are penalties for not doing so.

Meg Hillier MP, the minister responsible, confirmed earlier this week that nothing will get you removed from the Register – not even death [3].

Phil Booth, National Coordinator of NO2ID said,

If you look under 18 at 22, there are already cheap, simple proof-of-age cards available. What’s on offer here is a system that will keep track of your personal details for official purposes for life – and perhaps long after you have died of old age.

The ID scheme is a bureaucrat’s dream; a citizen’s nightmare.

-ENDS-

Notes for editors:

1) NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the database state. See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate for a list of ‘database state’ initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing, and http://www.no2id.net/datasharing for how it all fits together.

NO2ID’s ‘Don’t be a guinea-pig’ campaign is at:
http://www.no2id.net/idcardcon/

2) For a full list of the *fifty* categories of information that may legally be held on the National Identity Register, read Schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2006/ukpga_20060015_en_5#sch1

3) In response to a Parliamentary Question from Francis Maude MP, Ms Hillier said:
“Information will be retained for as long as is necessary, but only where it is consistent with the statutory purposes set out in the Identity Cards Act 2006. For example, the Identity Cards Act 2006 provides that the date of death may be held on the National Identity Register. This information may be required to help prevent an individual’s identity being stolen after death.”
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-02-01a.312174.h&s

For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please contact:

Phil Booth (National Co-ordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net) on 07974 230 839
Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308
Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166

The Home Office today announces that young people in London may enroll in its National Identity Scheme from February 8th, suggesting that it offers a ‘convenient’ form of proof of age. NO2ID [1] suggests that targetting London’s young is even less likely to achieve wide use than the heavily promoted pilot in Manchester [2].

Phil Booth, National Coordinator of NO2ID said:

If it were not for the sinister consequences for anyone foolish
enough to be a guinea pig, this would be ludicrous as well as
wasteful.

You can spend £10 on a proof-of-age card from an independent charity with no other commitment; or you can pay £30 now, be fingerprinted, and agree to account for your personal details to the Home Office for the rest of your life. The government believes you will choose the second, and is spending £230,000 of taxpayers money a day [3] on that basis.

-ENDS-

Notes for editors:

[1] NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and
the database state.
See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate for a list of ‘database state’ initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing, and
http://www.no2id.net/datasharing for how it all fits together.
NO2ID’s ‘Don’t be a guinea-pig’ campaign is at: http://www.no2id.net/idcardcon/

[2] See, ‘Hundreds of ID cards taken up in NW England,’ BBC 21 Jan 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8472030.stm
The Home Office claims that, ‘A total of 2,700 identity cards are now
in circulation in Manchester and the North West.’ In Greater Manchester alone there are more than 3,000 births a month.

[3] See, ‘ID cards to go on sale for the first time in Manchester,’ The Times 17 Nov 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6919333.ece

For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please contact:
Phil Booth (National Co-ordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net) on
07974 230 839
Guy Herbert (General Secretary, general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308 (Central London)
Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166