Press Releases
27 MARCH 2008
HEATHROW FINGERPRINTING SUSPENDED BUT NOT ABANDONED
EXPATS’ GROUP MAINTAINS ADVICE TO AVOID HEATHROW AIRPORTTravellers should avoid using London’s Heathrow airport until it finally abandons plans for the mass fingerprinting of passengers. That continues to be the advice from NO2ID Expats’ Group. Other hubs, whether in the UK or in other EU countries, should be preferred for the time being. This may entail using airlines other than BA. Rail or sea links may also be an option in some cases.
Heathrow wants to fingerprint and photograph both domestic passengers and international travellers with onward flights to other airports in the UK and Ireland. But on 26 March, just before the new Terminal 5 came into operation, the fingerprinting was reportedly suspended. This followed a warning from the UK Information Commissioner that the measure may be illegal. BAA, the company that runs Heathrow, has not abandoned the idea of fingerprinting. The BBC reported that talks were under way “between the Information Commissioner and BAA, which insists it wants to bring in checks in the future”.
The photographing of passengers is going ahead. BAA’s website has removed references to fingerprinting at Heathrow, but it continues to list “biometric capture” among the procedures for transit passengers, whether or not Terminal 5 is involved in the transfer. And it still states that the photographing is “required by the Department for Transport”. So the confusion over responsibilities is still as described in NO2ID Expats’ press release of 24 March. For all of the reasons set out in that statement, NO2ID Expats maintains its advice that travellers should avoid using Heathrow until it finally and unequivocally abandons the “biometric capture” of passengers.
26 MARCH 2008
PASSPORT-ID LINK POSTPONEMENT
NO2ID Expats’ Group, which has active supporters in 39 countries, notes the British government’s decision not to link the issuing of passports to the issuing of ID cards and to enrolment on the National Identity Register before 2011-2012. So far, this is only a postponement of plans to make British passport holders hand over control of their identity to the state. Nonetheless, the government back-pedalling is a signal victory for the NO2ID campaign against a database state in the UK. NO2ID Expats’ Group calls upon the British government to abandon its plans to introduce ID cards and a National Identity Register.
- As spending on the ID/passport/National Identity Register scheme spirals, real passport services to British nationals overseas are being cut back. The latest example is a decision to close down UK passport issuing operations in Brussels and move them to the British consular service in Paris. The 30,000-strong British community in Belgium is mobilising. An online petition against the closure (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/brusselspassport/) has so far garnered 2,285 signatures.
24 MARCH 2008
HEATHROW FINGERPRINTING: WHO’S IN CHARGE?
BUCK-PASSING RAISES SECURITY CONCERNS OVER MASS “BIOMETRIC CAPTURE” AT INTERNATIONAL AIR HUB.
EXPATS’ GROUP ADVISES TRAVELLERS TO AVOID HEATHROW.
London’s Heathrow airport has introduced what it appropriately calls the “biometric capture” both of domestic passengers and of international travellers who are transiting to a domestic flight. The website of BAA, the Spanish-owned company that runs Britain’s airports, explains: “If you’re departing on a domestic flight, or transferring from an international to a domestic flight, you’ll be asked to provide fingerprints and have your photograph taken...” This is so that all biometric captives can “enjoy the same great facilities and wide choice of shops and restaurants”. In other words, Heathrow is unable to keep transit passengers airside. According to BAA, passengers who “refuse to provide their data, or to validate it prior to boarding” will be “denied entry and will not be able to board their flight”.
NO2ID Expats’ Group strongly objects to the forced “capture” of highly sensitive personal data. This practice obviously raises serious privacy issues. The use of fingerprints for identification purposes opens up frightening new opportunities for identity theft. If your credit card details are stolen, you can at least cancel the card and get a new one. If your scanned fingerprints are stolen, what will you do? Hygiene is a further concern. No assurances have been given that the hand scanners will be disinfected between “captures”. And the new procedure will further slow down the processing of passengers at what is already Europe’s worst major airport for flight delays.
Another big failing is the confusion over who is ultimately responsible for the “biometric capture”. The BAA site says that the measure is “required by the Government”. On some pages2 the site is more specific: biometric capture is “required by the Department for Transport”. But when a NO2ID member asked Britain’s Department for Transport (DfT) about this, he received the following reply: “This is a border and immigration issue (Border & Immigration Agency) and may I suggest you contact them with your query”. He did so. In response, the agency sent him (presumably by mistake) an internal e-mail chain revealing interdepartmental chaos. It includes the following view from Her Majesty’s Inspector, Border & Immigration Agency: “This is certainly not a BIA issue”. The biometric checks are, the inspector argues, “for domestic flights which is most certainly a DfT and/or BAA issue around how they have set up Terminal 5”. So the enquirer turned to BAA. Who, he asked, is actually responsible for the introduction and implementation of biometric capture at Heathrow? And would BAA agree with the BIA’s view that “biometric capture” is a response to the way in which Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 has been set up? To date, no reply has been received. But the BAA website still states that the measures are “required by the Department for Transport”. All of this raises two particular issues:
- If there is such confusion about responsibilities, who will ensure that the following promise, made on BAA’s website, is actually kept: “Your personal data will be encrypted immediately to keep it secure, and will be destroyed within 24 hours of use, in accordance with the Data Protection Act. It will not be used for any other purpose. Data stored does not include your personal details.”
- Given that at least one of the government departments concerned has sent a string of sensitive internal e-mails to a casual outside enquirer over an unsecured link, can the services involved be entrusted with the scanned images of travellers’ fingerprints?
So far, Heathrow is the only airport to enforce “biometric capture” of those with connecting flights to the UK and Ireland (whether or not via Terminal 5). The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has now stated that the fingerprinting may be illegal. It advises passengers who are ordered to give their fingerprints to do so “under protest”.
But NO2ID Expats’ Group suggests that international travellers with connecting domestic flights should avoid flying via Heathrow at all, until such time as “biometric capture” is discontinued. Other hubs, whether in the UK or in other EU countries, should be preferred for the time being. This may entail using airlines other than BA. Rail or sea links may also be an option in some cases.
It should be emphasised that British officialdom has a particularly poor data protection record. Over the past year alone, UK government services have managed to lose: a child benefit payments database with the personal data, including bank account details, of around 25 million people; the unencrypted details of 7,500 vehicles in Northern Ireland and the names and addresses of their owners; records of 3 million British driving test candidates (they were on a hard drive that disappeared from a “secure facility” in Iowa, USA); and a Ministry of Defence laptop containing details of some 600,000 people, most of whom had expressed interest in joining the British armed forces.
[ DOC | PDF ]11 APRIL 2007
NO2ID Newsletter Article
Massive price hike for expat passports
It would have been a good April Fool – but in fact, it is all too real. On 1 April, the price of UK passports issued abroad rose by more than 25%. British expat passports are now among the world’s most expensive. For the cheapest adult passport (the 32-pager), a Brit in the USA will now pay $238. An American living in Britain can get a US passport for $67. In Paris, a UK adult 32-pager now costs €185, which is about ₤126. The maximum charge for a French passport at France’s consulate in London is just under ₤50.
Officially, little or no advance warning was given of the massive British overseas price hikes, which are undoubtedly linked to biometrics and the back-door financing of the proposed UK national identity scheme. But the NO2ID Expats’ Group broke the news in a press release on 26 March – declared “ID-Day” by anti-ID campaigners in the UK. While giving a British consulate an earful about the national identity scheme, an expat supporter was told of the imminent price hike. Immediately contacted by the NO2ID Expats’ Group, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed the story.
Of course, Brits living abroad have no choice. They must have passports. As one outraged expat put it, a British family living in Calais will now have to pay upwards of ₤500 just for the right to set foot in Dover. And if ₤126 for a 32-pager is already the going rate in Paris, how long will it be before passport offices inside the UK start charging the same?
11 APRIL 2007
NO2ID Newsletter Article
Biometrics: Europe’s two fingers to Uncle Sam
Well, all this fingerprinting had to be done anyway, didn’t it? Brussels wanted two fingerprints in the passports, and the reason it wanted two fingerprints was because the Americans wanted them, wasn’t it? So it will just make things a bit nicer for people who go to Florida, won’t it? Er no, actually, it won’t. Because the Americans no longer want two of our digits. They want all ten. In a bid to salvage their widely discredited US-VISIT border control programme, they have suddenly decreed that two dabs do not an ID make.
So where does that leave the holders of the EU’s brand-new bog standard ePassports, including the Brits? The ORF, Austria’s equivalent of the BBC, put the question to the German government, which currently holds the EU presidency. “The aim of introducing electronic passports,” Berlin frostily replied, “is the secure comparison of the checked person and the document when crossing a border [1:1 verification], for which two fingerprints are suitable and entirely adequate ... The European concept does not provide for a database comparison [1:n identification] such as takes place, for example, in the USA within the framework of the US-VISIT programme.”
In other words, the new European ePassports do not meet American requirements, and there are no plans for making them do so. The Austrian broadcaster also notes that the EU passports cannot even be matched against European police databases of criminals’ fingerprints, currently being networked EU-wide. So “wanted criminals who get a corrupt official anywhere in the EU to issue them with a passport in another name, but with their own fingerprints, cannot be identified by this means”. Collapse of the rationale for the Britain’s brave new fingerprinting centres. What next? Toeprints?
11 APRIL 2007
NO2ID Newsletter Article
Transformational government
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not want to know about the link between ID cards and passports. Nor does it know the correct e-mail address for the Home Office. This startling joined-upness deficit emerged when expat NO2ID supporters mailed the FCO on 26 March – ID-Day. They wanted assurances that they will not be subject to interrogation, fingerprinting or iris-scanning at a British consulate or embassy when renewing their passports. The NO2ID Expats’ Group warns that an interrogating role for consular officials would inevitably damage their relationship with British citizens living abroad. But it is also concerned by reports that interrogation and biometric enrolment of expats might be subcontracted to private firms. It points out that subcontracting would raise data security risks even greater than those already created by the proposed scheme. The FCO’s response to the worries of the people it is supposed to protect? A two-line e-mail from its webmaster, containing the Whitehall equivalent of “Not us, mate. Try the Home Office.” Plus a Home Office e-mail address which does not exist. To those who bothered to point this out, the FCO apologised and sent a slightly different Home Office e-mail address. Which doesn’t work either. Ever anxious to help, the NO2ID Expats’ Group again reported the problem. At the same time, it asked if expats stood any chance of receiving a substantive reply to their questions. Stony silence from the FCO. That it should want to sidestep the ID quagmire is understandable. But one wonders how ministries which don’t know each other’s e-mails will manage to run the world’s most complex surveillance database.
26 MARCH 2007 - For immediate release
STEEP PASSPORT PRICE HIKE FOR BRITISH EXPATS
RENEWALS BEFORE 1 APRIL WILL BEAT THE RISE
For British citizens living abroad, the price of a passport will rise to £119 from 1 April (about €176 or US$ 223.40 at today’s rates). With a few months’ delay, passport charges to British expats are following those applied within the UK itself. The steep increase will help to pay for interrogations, ID cards, fingerprinting and a new, intrusive database, the National Identity Register, which will build up an “audit trail” of each citizen’s ID use. British passports will now be among the most expensive in the world.
News of the price rise emerged today during a campaign by British expats to mark ID-Day, organised to protest against the opening of the first ID interrogation and fingerprinting centres in the UK. A campaigner who phoned a British consulate was told about the increase during the conversation. Behind today’s action is NO2ID, the non-partisan British organisation campaigning against the introduction of ID cards and a database state.
Contacted by a member of the NO2ID Expats’ Group, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed that the cost of a passport will be going up by “a lot” on 1 April “all over the world”. An official said that she did not know the precise figure, but that £119 sounded “about right”.
The NO2ID Expats’ Group campaign of e-mail protests continues. Full details and a link to the FCO are on the NO2ID Expats’ Group website at http://no2id-expats.chown.ch All British citizens living outside the UK are invited to take part, via the website.
Given the linkage made by the present UK government between its ID scheme and entitlement to British passports, expats are seeking assurances that they will not be subject to interrogation nor to fingerprinting or iris-scanning at a British consulate or embassy when renewing their passports. The NO2ID Expats’ Group warns that an interrogating role for consulates and embassies would inevitably damage their relationship with British citizens living abroad. But it is also concerned by reports that interrogation and biometric enrolment of British citizens abroad might be subcontracted to private firms. It points out that subcontracting would raise data security risks even greater than those already created by the proposed scheme.
In reply, one British consulate confirmed today that it is “currently awaiting guidance on the future role of our Post in delivering local biometric services”.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the biometrics in the new ePassports issued by EU countries will in any case not comply with US requirements. In a bid to salvage its widely discredited US-VISIT border control programme, the US will soon be demanding ten fingerprints instead of two. Austrian public service broadcaster the ORF questioned the German government about this. Germany currently holds the EU presidency. The German interior ministry’s reply, as quoted by the ORF: “The aim of introducing electronic passports is the secure comparison of the checked person and the document when crossing a border [1:1 verification], for which two fingerprints are suitable and entirely adequate ... The European concept does not provide for a database comparison [1:n identification] such as takes place, for example, in the USA within the framework of the US-VISIT programme.” The Austrian broadcaster also notes that the EU passports cannot even be matched against European police databases of criminals’ fingerprints, currently being networked EU-wide. So “wanted criminals who get a corrupt official anywhere in the EU to issue them with a passport in another name, but with their own fingerprints, cannot be identified by this means”.
NO2ID is backed by a wide range of organisations and political parties. Details of action in the UK are on NO2ID’s main website at www.no2id.net
MEDIA CONTACT for expats’ action: Ian Graham on +32 19 633850 or expats@no2id.net
19 MARCH 2007 - For immediate release
EXPATS TO PROTEST OVER UK’s ID INTERROGATION CENTRES
On 26 March, British expatriates around the world will be telling the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of their opposition to plans for ID cards and a database state in the UK.
The event is part of ID-Day, organised to protest against the opening of the first ID interrogation and fingerprinting centres in the UK. Behind the day’s action is NO2ID, the non-partisan British organisation campaigning against the introduction of ID cards and a database state. NO2ID has seen rapid growth in its support recently, both within the UK and in the overseas British community, where it has an Expats’ Group. As their contribution to ID-Day, expat supporters will be conducting an e-mail lobby of the FCO, which is the passport issuing authority for British citizens living abroad.
Full details and the link to the FCO are on the NO2ID Expats’ Group website at http://no2id-expats.chown.ch. All British citizens living outside the UK are invited to take part, via the website.
Given the linkage made by the present UK government between its ID scheme and entitlement to British passports, expats will be seeking assurances that they will not be subject to interrogation nor to fingerprinting or iris-scanning at a British consulate or embassy when renewing their passports. The NO2ID Expats’ Group warns that an interrogating role for consulates and embassies would inevitably damage their relationship with British citizens living abroad. But it is also concerned by reports that interrogation and biometric enrolment of British citizens abroad might be subcontracted to private firms. It points out that subcontracting would raise data security risks even greater than those already created by the proposed scheme.
In the UK, the interrogation and fingerprinting centres will soon start processing first-time passport applicants. In the near future, the new United Kingdom Identity & Passport Service (UKIPS) will also refuse to renew existing passports inside the UK unless applicants attend an official interview and agree to be fingerprinted and give a wide range of personal information for a database, the National Identity Register (NIR). At the same time, they will be offered a national ID card. Whether applicants accept the card or not, their biometrics (including fingerprints) and other details will go on to the NIR and will remain there for as long as it exists. The biometric ID cards and the register to be introduced in the UK are considerably more intrusive than those used so far in other countries. Records of card use will rapidly build up an “audit trail” on each individual within the NIR. Citizens will have no right to know when their file is consulted, and by whom. Under its current leadership, Britain’s Labour government is pledged to make ID cards compulsory if it wins the next general election. All other significant political parties in the UK are committed to scrapping the scheme.
NO2ID is backed by a wide range of organisations and political parties. Affiliates include the National Union of Journalists.
Details of action in the UK are on NO2ID’s main website at www.no2id.net
MEDIA CONTACT for expats’ action: Ian Graham on +32 19 63 38 50 or expats@no2id.net