NO2ID are pushing a "Renew for Freedom" campaign to encourage as many people as possible to renew their passport before May 31st. That date is the latest on which it will be possible to guarantee not getting an RFID-chipped passport, and in October/November of this year UKIPS will be introducing the enhanced application procedure for 'first time adult applicants' (if one were paranoid, one might remember how ID cards were going to be introduced on a voluntary basis, rather than compelled when one renewed the passport).

It's a good idea, but it's not appropriate for fanf and I: my passport was renewed last year and his the year before. The baby will be getting a passport soon after its birth, but that will only last 5 years, well within the expiry time of our own passports. I can keep an eye on deadlines and hopefully renew baby's passport before we are forced to put its details on the NIR, but if the project runs to schedule and we have to do this in 2008, its renewed passport will still run out before our existing ones.

I find myself wondering about child number two. I was thinking of having a 2-3 year gap between children, which would likely mean child 2 being born after passport => NIR compulsion. With Tony's parents both living in France by then, it's not an easy choice, not having passports. Of course, if Labour get a fourth term, NIR will be compulsory for all of us.

Thus my plan of action:
* Campaign against ID cards and the NIR as much as possible (still have to polish my question for tonight and set Question Time to be recorded).
* Put more money and time into campaigning with the LibDems between now and next general election. (The Conservatives may say they'll scrap the ID card and register, but voted for the 'compromise' that means passports => NIR compulsion.)
* As a last resort, investigate other countries with better constitutional protections against ID database abuses. Ideally in Europe, so keeping regular contact with the grandparents is still possible. I really don't want to emigrate and nor does Tony, but I believe in having a Plan B.

So, I happen to read chrislightfoot and today's entry links to the NO2ID pledge on his PledgeBank project. I was having the "why ID cards are evil" conversation yesterday and decided to put my money where my mouth is and a) sign the pledge b) join NO2ID.

The pledge reads "I will refuse to register for an ID card and will donate £10 to a legal defence fund but only if 10,000 other people will also make this same pledge."

I felt moved to add my own comment to the (growing) list, describing my own reasons for signing the pledge:


"I spent several years supporting a small university ID card system, which included smartchips. The technology is unstandardised, unreliable and expensive. The justification for the national ID card system keeps changing (terrorism, health tourism, immigration, crime), and none of the reasons are sufficiently convincing given the sums of money involved.

The ID card will be a large, public-sector IT project, with changing goalposts and unstandardised technology - it should be ringing alarm bells in anyone who has ever studied software engineering or worked on IT projects. Such a combination is very unlikely to deliver the required goals, or be on time, or keep within budget. On pragmatic grounds alone, I oppose the government's proposals.

I will not register for an ID card."


I'd also like to mention the LibDem case against ID cards.

There are some other interesting pledges on PledgeBank, which I think I'll look into when I feel less wedding-whelmed.