Scotland Against ID Cards

Last year the Scottish Executive introduced national identity cards into Scotland for the first time in fifty-four years. Disgracefully, it did this by conning the most vulnerable members of society - the elderly and the disabled - into believing that they were merely being given a new kind of bus pass. And most shockingly of all it did this in total secrecy and by going behind the back of the Scottish Parliament. The new ID cards, backed up by a centralised database, are so intrusive that they would be forbidden in Germany. Read the report of one Edinburgh pensioner who tried to exercise his right to opt out of data sharing when applying to renew his bus pass: Scots ID card scandal.

Section 57 of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006 provides powers for the Registrar General to record whatever information he may prescribe about any individual and to share that data with anyone whom he may so prescribe. That includes personal data such as health records.

NO2ID are calling for MSPs to repeal or amend Section 57. We will soon be requesting that you write to your MSPs and ask them to support the repeal of this legislation; to undertake a proper public consultation about what data the Registrar General should record; and to ensure that there is effective Parliamentary oversight of the sharing of personal data by government agencies.

In particular, we are calling for the Scottish Parliament to

• fully specify what information about individuals may be recorded by the Registrar General;
• fully specify with whom each class of data held by the Registrar General may be shared;
• fully specify under what circumstances and for what purposes data held by the Registrar General may be shared;
• require that any expansion of data collection and/or sharing powers be subject to Parliamentary approval, requiring affirmative resolution; and
• explicitly state that the Act does not relieve the Registrar General of duties of confidentiality nor provide exemption from Data Protection legislation or principles.

The UK Government in Westminster plans to impose compulsory National Identity Cards on all British citizens. The cards will backed by a massive database that will contain an unprecedented amount of information on all of our private lives. The Scottish Parliament is powerless to prevent this.

National Identity Cards will be extremely expensive and there is no evidence that they will prevent terrorism or illegal immigration. ID Cards and the National Identity Register represent a massive threat to our privacy and civil liberties.

Opposition is growing throughout the UK and Scotland is at the forefront of the resistance; a recent poll showed that barely half of us in Scotland support ID Cards with opposition here stronger than in the rest of the UK.

Scotland doesn't want ID Cards.

NO2ID is a non-aligned, UK wide coalition against Identity Cards and the Database State. The campaign homepage is at www.no2id.net.

www.no2id-scotland.net exists to provide a Scottish view of the ID Card threat and to encourage everyone in Scotland to join the UK campaign.

This site is maintained by Geraint Bevan in Glasgow. If you have a news story, press release or event relevant to ID cards in Scotland then please let me know. - you can email me at scotland@no2id.net.