Under the new law, spammers can be fined £5,000 in a magistrates court or an unlimited penalty from a jury.

Yet it appears it is really up to me to pursue charges through the courts. The Information Commissioners Office, who enforce the new regulations, appear largely neutered (as predicted):

If my complaint is upheld, will the organisation be punished?

If we think the organisation has breached the regulations, we can ask them to put things right, but we cannot punish them for breaking the law.

If my complaint is upheld, will I be entitled to compensation?

We have no powers to award compensation . If you have suffered a loss because an organisation or individual has broken the law, you may be entitled to compensation, but you must claim this through the courts.

The right to compensation applies even if you don’t report the problem to us. You can make a claim to the court whether or not we have agreed that the law has been broken.

No doubt this will cost a lot of my time and money. We should build a simple kit, with some form letters and instructions on pursuing compensation.

Or just take enforcement into our own hands and report them to something like Spamhaus.

“We are extremely concerned at the ongoing culture of secrecy endemic in the planning of the identity cards proposals. The Home Office has conducted most of its work in a covert fashion, refusing to disclose information that would inform debate, and conducting negotiations in a closed environment. This process is inimical to the creation of trust. This situation also makes further research on the proposals impossible.”

The London School of Economics has published their latest Identity Project Status Report concerning the governments Identity Cards Bill 2005.

The last report was immediately damned by the Government at every turn in what can only be described as behaviour of the intensely insecure. Why are the Government so insecure about the details of their Bill?

Some selected quotes from the new report

“We were perplexed by the Home Office’s continued insistence that it is absolutely right on so many of these matters. In such an extraordinarily complex arena filled with countless uncertainties the department never once conceded that it has misjudged even the slightest detail.”

“We were astonished by the response from Government officials and Ministers, many of whom launched spurious, misleading and ad hominem attacks on the report and its authors. These sensational statements were very different from those expected during normal academic critique.”

“In claiming that the UK proposals are an international obligation the government has systematically misled the public and parliament.”

“There have followed some extraordinary and unfounded claims from Government ministers regarding our
research, including ‘unsubstantiated assumptions’, and ‘plagiarism’…”

“The Home Office accuses us of over-estimating the costs for ‘marketing’…We only mention the term ‘marketing’ twice in the 300 page report”

“We note, however, that the Home Office’s criticism of our first report has become more measured over time, possibly as a result of the soundness and logic of our calculations. The criticism has tended to become conditional and specific. For example, compared with the original claims that the report was “mad” and “fabricated”, the most recent comments by Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland appear almost conciliatory”

“The Home Office continues to ignore sound expert advice on the risks inherent in a centralised repository of data. It has become obsessed with arguing that the technology can be made secure but has failed to grasp the simple fact that human error and criminality in a centralised system can create the gravest security threats.”

“We find the Home Office’s statements of absolute certainty in the technology quite puzzling.”

And remember folks, it’s not the winning that’s important, it’s that they all die as soon as possible (ensuring they never face war crime trials)

• BBC: Dick Cheney rushed to hospital
• BBC: Israeli PM suffers serious stroke
• BBC: Ex-PM Thatcher taken to hospital

The world is not a different place since 9/11. The “rules of the game” have not changed. Reject the ID card.

Read more at “Our World Our Say” and No2Id.

Please donate something to the “Our World Our Say” campaign against ID cards. They have various projects to raise awareness and are currently raising money for an advertising campaign.