WHAT WE STAND FOR

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.

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.

NO2ID comment:

BROKEN PROMISES, BROKEN SYSTEM

In 2006 NO2ID began campaigning on medical confidentiality, alongside the NHS Confidentiality campaign. The main target up to now has been the Summary Care Record (SCR).

An early success was securing patients the right to opt out. But Connecting for Health - the agency responsible for upgrading NHS IT - has been pouring money into a system that researchers at UCL have shown brings little (if any) benefit, and in which 10% of records already risk patient safety.

It has been remorseless and tricky in driving onward its dangerous flagship programme:

• Misleading patients and manufacturing 'consent';
• Bypassing GPs – with the decision to upload presented as between PCTs and Practice Managers;
• Misrepresenting who has access to records and how;
• Mailing propaganda to tens of millions in the run-up to an election.

The Tories and LibDems both promised in opposition to tackle the SCR. The Coalition agreement promises to put patients "[in] control of their health records". So what has happened?

• Buried written announcement in Parliament that uploads may continue;
• Uploads accelerate. Massively.
• Health minister delays a critical vote by GPs by offering a review that was already happening;
• Ministers skate over the independent study that highlights "wicked risks".

And when the GP's Committee of the British Medical Association called for uploads to stop and for access to the system to be switched off... ministers did nothing. GPs are being forced to work the system individually to keep privacy for their patients.

Over 2 million people's details are exposed NOW on a system that threatens their privacy, and, for some, their health. It won't end here.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DATABASE STATE

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 your private life more than ever before.

The list of database state initiatives on which NO2ID is campaigning, along with a wide range of other organisations, is here.

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 here.

Answers to selected Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are here.

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