C A S N I C Press / Media.... PRESS AND MEDIA RESOURCE PACK This page contains resources for journalists wishing to write articles or produce programs concerning the compulsory National Identity Card. www.CASNIC.ORG. Click here to access the basic arguments against the National Identity Card Click here to access the longer, more detailed arguments against the National Identity Card Click here to see the Frequently Asked Questions about the National Identity Card Click here to download this section on Press and the Media in pdf form (Right-click and choose 'Save Target As' to save to disk) JOURNALISTS: When composing articles, please, PLEASE include our web site address www.CASNIC.org. Thank you! What Is CASNIC?   The Campaign to STOP the National Identity Card (CASNIC) is a protest group of concerned UK citizens. We are not affiliated to, or sponsored by any organisation, church, religion or political party. Supporters are liberty-loving people from all walks of life, all ethnic groups and all political persuasions. We are a single-issue protest group. CASNIC was launched on 26th November 2003 to coincide with the Queen�s Speech announcing the proposal. Who Is Behind CASNIC?   CASNIC is the brain-child of Stuart Smith, age 50, author of �Privacy in the UK� and lecturer/writer in the area of human freedom and potential. For more details click here. Press Contacts   Stuart Smith CASNIC 12 Tilbury Close Caversham Reading RG4 5JN Tel: 01189 461246 Fax: 01189 462505 Email: info@casnic.demon.co.uk Web: www.casnic.org Interviews   The founder of CASNIC, Stuart Smith, is available for press, radio and television interviews. Stuart has appeared on the radio and television (in non-related areas), and has given many seminars attended by 100+ people at a time, so he is comfortable with media appearances. Press Releases & Quotes   All of the material required for a good article can be found in the links above. Journalists, please fee free to cut and paste any sections you require. Also, in the FAQ section, any Answers given may be take as quotes from the Founder, Stuart smith. In addition, here is a selection of quotes from the Founder of CASNIC, Stuart Smith. General Quotes (Setting Context, etc.)   �This is, without doubt, a solution looking for a problem.� �The greatest danger here is the government�s intention to introduce this by stealth, to soften us all up with biometric driving licences and passports before legislating for compulsion.� �This is not merely a �step too far� � it is one hundred giant paces towards totalitarianism.� �Our biggest fear is how this technology is an enabling tool for any future despotic regime. Once all citizens have a file held on them at a central government computer, the way is open for tyranny.� �The government will assure us that the data held in our Citizen File will be innocuous, and that adequate �safeguards� will be in place to protect us. But how long will it be before we hear calls to add criminal records, driving convictions, health records and bank records to the card?� �Within a few short years, this card will become a government �permission to live� without which you will be unable to live any sort of civilised life. And of course, government could then freeze your �citizen privileges� at the touch of a remote button.� �You may trust this government not to misuse the data on your Citizen File, but how about the next�and the next fifty governments?� �CASNIC does not oppose voluntary identity documents. Bus passes, library cards, bank cards, etc. Furthermore, we are not against any particular methods (e.g. biometric) of identification. Put simply, if you choose to have a biometric card issued by (say) ABC Bank, then this is your choice. You can bank there or not, carry their card or not � and sue ABC if they release your private information to a third party without your consent. We are against the blanket, compulsory introduction of a National Identity Card for every resident, with its associated �citizen database� run by government bureaucrats.� Compulsion   �Make no mistake, the government�s Holy Grail is compulsion. They will never be satisfied with a voluntary scheme, although they may pretend to be in order to gain our compliance.� The Cost   �By the government�s own estimate, this will cost three BILLION pounds. Add to that the usual mess-up caused when any government gets involves with impossibly large projects, and you can double or triple that estimate.� �Why is the government (and a Labour government at that) spending three billion on logging us all into a giant computer system, instead of on our hospitals, roads, public transport or schools?� �It is us who will pay for the outrageous cost of this massive project. There are plans to charge us for the privilege of being turned into a number. Under a compulsory ID card system, you will be compelled to pay. You will not have a choice. Resistance will be met first with fines and then imprisonment.� Terrorism   �A compulsory National ID Card will not stop terrorism. In fact it could make the terrorist�s life easier, if anything.� �Even the government dropped their tired �fighting terrorism� slogan in 2002 regarding ID cards when they realised it didn�t stack up.� �Imagine the Sept 11th terrorists abandoning their evil plan because�they didn�t have a valid ID card. That�s not very credible, is it?� �Will lack of an ID card stop any determined terrorist? No. Also, many terrorists (e.g. Timothy McVeigh, Oklahoma bomber) are �card-carrying citizens� of their own countries.� �The National Identity Card can and will be faked allowing terrorists to enter the country with fewer security checks than at present. Why? If you carry the card, and your eye scan matches the database � then �pass friend�, without a second glance. Normal �common sense� anti-terrorism precautions will be dismantled and total reliance placed on the card.� Crime   �Even the Police are very luke-warm about any supposed �crime-busting� benefits of an ID card. They rarely have trouble identifying a suspect � it�s catching them which is sometimes difficult.� �It may reduce Social Security ID fraud only, which is a miniscule percentage of the Social Security budget and the smallest area of Social Security fraud. Most such fraud is �understatement of circumstances� not Identity Fraud.� �It would do nothing to stop other crime such as burglary, assault, theft, fraud, rape, mugging, murder. No government spokesperson has ever stated why they think an ID card would have the slightest effect on the sort of crime we all care most about.� �Rather than preventing crime, this could create a huge underground lucrative criminal trade in fake ID, estimated to be worth billions. That which can be made by man can be faked by man. I don�t think it is ridiculous to imagine a future headline which states: Drug Lords Now Make More From Fake ID Than Drugs, Claims New Report.� Immigration   �Immigrants to this country are already subjected to stringent ID checks before being allowed in. An ID card would not help in the slightest to stem the flow of illegal immigration.� Bureaucratic Nightmare   �This will create a vast bureaucracy of expensive employees to maintain the system of tagging citizens, issuing cards, and dealing with lost and stolen cards. Governments are, historically, truly terrible at managing such large national projects and so costs are most likely to double, triple or worse. Think Dome, think Air Traffic Control.� �The Citizen Monitoring Database will have to be hidden away and guarded in secret, possibly underground bunkers maintained at vast public expense. The same happened with the London Road Tolling computers, and that�s a far lower security risk.� Criminalise Ordinary People   �It will criminalise tens of thousands of innocent people as it will eventually be an offence not to apply for a card and then carry your card and present it on demand to an authorised state official.�