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"I will apply to renew my UK passport on 15th August 2005 but only if 100 other UK citizens will do the same."
— Geraint Bevan, Member of NO2ID (www.no2id.net)
Deadline to sign up by: 14th August 2005
106 people signed up (6 over target)
Country: United Kingdom
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The UK passport service will start issuing "biometric passports" in October 2005. These passports will contain electronic chips which are capable of storing biometric information about the passport holder in a machine-readable format. This measure is at the insistence of the US government; it is a requirement for countries to comply if they wish to continue participating in the US visa waiver scheme. Passports issued before October 2005 will not contain these chips.
Furthermore, the Identity Cards Bill, which is currently under consideration by Parliament, specifies that passports will become "designated documents". If this bill becomes law, applicants for such documents will be required to provide personal information and undergo biometric processing (capture of fingerprints, iris scans and digital photographs) as part of the registration process for the new central database - the "National Identity Register". Applying to renew a passport before the bill becomes law will buy 10 years grace before the government can use passport renewal to force applicants to enrol on the National Identity Register, by which time the scheme may have been defeated.
If enough people renew their passports at the same time, the surge in applications may get noticed by MPs before the third reading in the Commons and may help them to understand that the identity cards scheme will face determined opposition if they try to impose it on us.
Resist ID cards and the database state. Sign the pledge and then join NO2ID: http://www.no2id.net