Stop the Database State

Thanks yet again to Helen for undertaking minute-taking duties.

Minutes of meeting: Wednesday 13th January 2010, 7pm, at the Lass O’Gowrie, Charles St, Manchester

Summary of Actions

ACTION: Tom C to print and laminate a few NO2ID signs.

ACTION: Alan to draft invitation letter/email to James. Helen to liaise with Alan regarding this.

ACTION: Helen to ask Dave to set up “team list” (if he can’t Tom C could). Members: Dave, James EB, Helen, Tom C, Rachael C, Matt M, Alan B. Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone.

ACTION: Helen to find out official policy from Dave.

ACTION: Dave to investigate the MEN advert.

ACTION: Helen to book Salmon Rooms at Lass for February and March meetings.

Recent News

The contents of the recent national NO2ID newsletters were discussed. The Metropolitan Police have decided that photographers now need ID cards. ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) are against this. Also, use of stop and search powers without suspicion appears to be illegal, according to the European Court of Human Rights (as is the NIR!).

New Meeting Venue

Tonight is our first meeting at the Lass O’Gowrie. This pub has recently won awards for good food and drink, and serves food until 8pm. We meet in the Salmon Rooms, which are upstairs. Ask at the bar, and a member of staff will show you where we are. We could meet at 6:30pm downstairs, for pre-meeting drinks, then go upstairs at 7pm for the meeting. Then new members can meet us downstairs instead of wondering if they are in the right place. It may be intimidating for one to walk into a room full of strangers sitting round a table.

NO2ID Logos

We plan to get some A4 NO2ID logos to put on tables. This would also let new members know that they were in the right place.

ACTION: Tom C to print and laminate a few NO2ID signs.

Meeting and Stall Dates

For several years we have held the Manchester street stall on the second Saturday of every month, and the meeting on the Wednesday immediately after the stall. We may change this in the future, as public support is currently low. This may be because many people believe that after this year’s general election, the NIS is to be
scrapped (of course, whether that happens is yet to be seen).

Therefore, many members of the public may (incorrectly) no longer see the ID scheme or the database state as a threat to their privacy. We will have our next meeting on the Wednesday before the stall, to see whether this improves stall turnout.

Other Database State Issues

It has become apparent that the general public no longer seems to fear ID cards, and therefore sees NO2ID as a redundant campaign. This is not helped by our name. We seem to have become a victim of our own success! The advantage of this is that anyone who publicly admits to being pro-ID is now publicly ridiculed. Also, people are aware that the actual ID cards themselves are totally useless.

We need to inform the public about other database-state-style threats to privacy and security of personal information, rather than the plastic ID card. We may be more successful if we work with other civil liberties campaign groups, in a single-issue, non-partisan way.

We should liaise with colleagues at National NO2ID, as they may be able to advise on the best use of press and media coverage to get the “other database state issues” message out. We would like to invite James Elsdon-Baker (North of England Co-ordinator) to a campaigning meeting, to be held shortly in Manchester. This could take place on another day, if James is unable to make Wednesdays.

ACTION: Alan to draft invitation letter/email to James. Helen to liaise with Alan regarding this.

Use of Public Mailing List

There have recently been concerns about postings to the Manchester NO2ID public discussion list . One is having to give one’s email address to hundreds of strangers. A solution would be to open a free web-based email account (e.g. hotmail, gmail).

A lot of logistical email traffic is inappropriate for a public mailing list. It has been suggested that we could set up a “team list” to discuss meetings and chase up action points. If someone attends two meetings, they can be nominated by an existing team member to be added to the team email list. This would reduce the number of (possibly annoying and inappropriate) emails sent to people on the public list.

ACTION: Helen to ask Dave to set up “team list” (if he can’t Tom C could). Members: Dave, James EB, Helen, Tom C, Rachael C, Matt M, Alan B. Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone.

Also, some members of discussion list have shown their dislike of getting too many emails by being extremely verbally abusive. We need the opinion of NO2ID HQ in London – i.e. “official policy” – before taking any action.

ACTION: Helen to find out official policy from Dave.

Minutes of Meetings

For a while, Helen has been sending typed up minutes to Dave for approval, as Dave has received NO2ID PR training. However, Dave is no longer able to be as involved as he was. We suggest that Helen send the minutes to Dave. If she has not heard from Dave after one week, she can assume the minutes are acceptable, and send to the team list. The team then has 3 days to approve minutes; after this they will be sent to the public discussion list.

Local Publicity

A small group will distribute Guinea Pig leaflets to bars, shops, libraries and museums around the City Centre. This will be discussed amongst this small group. It was suggested that an advertisement in the MEN (letting people know about these other database state issues) may be a good use of funds. The MEN is free only on Thursdays and Fridays (so more readers those days). Also, we could produce a local flyer with meetings and stall information, with a blank slot for dates to be added (similar to the ones Dave used to do).

ACTION: Dave to investigate the MEN advert.

ACTION: Helen to book Salmon Rooms at Lass for February and March meetings.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday 10th February. Next meeting. Lass O’Gowrie, Manchester.
Saturday 13th February. Next street stall. St Ann’s Square, Manchester.
(NB: new order of events - meeting first, then stall!)
Wednesday 10th March. Meeting. Lass O’Gowrie, Manchester.
Saturday 13th March. Street stall. St Ann’s Square, Manchester.