Stop the Database State

MANCHESTER NO2ID PRESS RELEASE
Date: 14th October 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NO2ID are holding a day of action in Manchester to promote the new "Stop the ID Card Con" campaign, on Saturday 17th October.

National NO2ID co-ordinator Phil Booth will speak at a public meeting at the Friends Meeting House at 3:30pm, discussing people's concerns. The campaign intends to burn a giant ID card at 5pm in Albert Square.

The new campaign encourages people not to volunteer for a national identity card, with the simple message "Don't be a Guinea Pig!", and is based at http://www.idcardcon.org/ . The campaign informs people that registering for an ID card commits people to the National Identity Register database for life.

From 1pm at the Friends Meeting House, there will be a drop-in workshop for people interested in opposing the ID card scheme, where people can collect flyers and stickers to hold their own events. NO2ID supporters from across the country will hold street stalls around Manchester city centre, and people will be able to get practical campaigning experience by helping out.

The event follows last Saturday's push across Greater Manchester, when the campaign held simultaneous stalls in Fallowfield, Rochdale, Chorlton, Stockport, Didsbury and Oldham. Thousands of flyers were distributed by supporters from as far away as Norwich and Selby.

Manchester NO2ID co-ordinator Dave Page said, "People are not getting the full picture from the Government's spin. There is no practical benefit in paying £30 to be an ID guinea pig, and even if there were, it wouldn't be worth the fingerprinting, the lifetime on the database, the threat of fees and fines, and the increased risk of ID fraud and abuse. Join us on Saturday to stop the ID Card Con."

ENDS

Notes for editors:

For more information or interview, contact Manchester NO2ID co-ordinator Dave Page on manchester@no2id.net or 07722 615 398.

The ID Card Con website is at http://www.idcardcon.org/

NO2ID has been since 2004 the national non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the database state. See http://www.no2id.net/dbstate.php for a list of 'database state' initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing, and http://www.no2id.net/datasharing for how it all fits together.