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.

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Why NO2ID must carry on

National ID cards are gone. But the infrastructure survives as the biometric permits for foreign residents. Mass-surveillance has not disappeared. The coalition's promises to "roll back the database state" are ineffectual. Indeed official demands for personal information are multiplying:

• Travel by car or motorbike and your number plate is read by a network of cameras and that record of movements passed to a central store.
• 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. The UK is lobbying for this to be written into EU law.
• 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.
• Monitoring of telephone and internet use continues to increase; all 'traffic data' is now kept for inspection, by law.
• Ever more public bodies are getting powers to share the information they have about you, on fine-sounding pretexts.

And …

• To tie it all together, perhaps, a more subtle government scheme for "identity assurance" is on the agenda. Depending on how that is implemented it could be harmless; or it could be very bad news indeed for privacy and personal liberty.

Please help us now

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:

• protections in law for privacy that are available to everyone
• the right to control your own personal information
• entitlement to compensation if your privacy is abused

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 support us.

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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