The “European eID Interoperability Platform”, or STORK, is an EU-funded programme to set up standards for the interoperability of electronic ID systems across Europe. The project has recently caught the attention of NO2ID, the UK-based campaign against ID cards and the database state which, “after careful negotiation over several months” and a grant from Microsoft’s corporate social responsibility fund to cover the costs of its participation, has now been formally admitted to a STORK working group, representing civil society interests.
“As far as we know, we are the first non-governmental and non-corporate organisation to be given such a level of access”, said No2ID. “As things stand the Home Office’s scheme is by far the most pernicious ID scheme in the continent, if not the world. But if developing European standards starts to present a threat to privacy and civil liberties, then we are now in a much better position to know about it and lobby against it”.
See also The Register: ”With MS funding, No2ID gains entry to EU eID group”
22 March 2010 at 1:19 pm
I live in Wales, in the UK, and have always believed that the west’s obsession with categorisation and classification of individuals demeans us all by reducing us to numbers. It is beuracracy at its most self-righteous, and contributes to our descent into a fractured society divided by class wars, where the rich few make decisions that affect the masses of the working class. Having people’s every detail on record allows those in positions of authority to make prejudiced decisions about people without ever meeting them in person, while still appearing justified in their actions, and makes a mockery of the rights to privacy and anonymity which come as part and parcel of western democracy. Freedom of the self involves being free from the bonds of one’s past deeds, and to make those deeds public knowledge means that we are always shackled to them. Enough of the bearacracy, I say. Humans are entitled to their secrets, and to revoke that right is beyond criminal.