Renewing your UK passport early may help keep you out of the government’s ID database for a decade. Renew your passport now before ID cards become compulsory, and then you wont need to renew it again for another 10 years. This is a small price to pay to maintain your privacy.
Campaigns are running throughout the UK in May by the anti-Identity Card Database group, No2ID. UK nationals are being encouraged to renew their passports before the Autumn to prevent their personal details appearing in the ID database on renewal. Apart from frustrating the government’s plan to have everybody in the National Identity Register (NIR) sooner rather than later, you will also keep your own details off the register until 2016.
MPs are even joining the race to beat the system, with Liberal Democrat home affairs MPs applying to renew their passports too before Autumn. The current fee for a 10 year passport renewal is £51. Renew after the Summer, and you risk your personal details appearing in the ID database sooner rather than later. Furthermore, the charges are likely to increase once ID registration is phased in.
People will be issued with an ID card in addition to their passports, once the system is in place. Furthermore, individuals can opt out of receiving the card until 2010, but their details, such as finger prints and iris scans will of course still be recorded in the ID database.
The spokesman for Liberal Democrat home affairs states that the National Identity Register will be ineffective, intrusive, and expensive. Furthermore, the spokesman encourages people to avoid having their private details added to the system by renewing their passports as soon as possible.
