I've just received this email about the Pledge to refuse to register for the UK ID Card and to give £10 to a legal fund to support those who do the same. They've now got 10,000 signatures. I think the email needs wider distribution.

Thank you all - what a success!

When I started this pledge, I hoped we could show the government the depth and strength of feeling against their draconian ID system, and begin to build a fund to fight a series of legal battles against it. YOU have now done this - and more quickly than I ever dared hope.

Some of you have already asked exactly how the pledge is going to work, and now that we have reached the 10,000 mark I hope you'll bear with me while I explain in a little more detail what we (NO2ID) intend to do:

1) We shan't be asking you for your £10 until or unless the government manages to pass the Identity Cards Bill. It is by no means certain that they will be able to do this - and you can help us NOW to stop them*. Once you send your money in, it would be administratively prohibitive for us to refund it so we only want to ask for it once we are absolutely sure that we are going to need it.

2) All funds that you send will be held in trust, in a seperate bank account administered by an independent third party (a couple of law firms have already offered their services). NO2ID will not mix your pledges with campaign funds, i.e. every penny you give will go towards fighting the Act in the courts, and supporting those who are fighting the necessary legal battles.

3) It is just possible that even if the government do pass this Bill, they may drop the current ID scheme - leaving the legislation on the statute books. In this case, we shall still need to get the Act repealed (it contains some very dangerous powers, even if they remain dormant for a time) and so the fund will be used to pursue that end.

4) Once we have won utterly (no Bill, no ID scheme, no law sitting on the statute books) then any monies remaining in the fund will be dispersed - depending on how much is left - by either donating it to an appropriate charity (we'll hold a vote on which one, should this ever become necessary) or drafting a Bill, the aim of which is to inhibit any future government from imposing compulsory registration and ID cards on the people of the UK.

HOWEVER, this pledge does not end just because we have reached 10,000. We know that many tens of thousands more will refuse to register, and we still want to reach them and have them sign up before the closing date of October 9th, the day before Parliament sits again in the Autumn. The more of us that there are by then, the harder we make it for them to proceed.

We shall also shortly be launching another pledge - one that you may be highly motivated to promote.

Raising £100,000 in a little over a month from people who will refuse to register for an ID card is astounding, but now we want to raise £1,000,000 from people who - for whatever reason - feel they CAN'T refuse to register, but who will wholeheartedly support those of us who do. I know from the comments and direct mails [*please* don't write expecting an answer, I simply can't handle the volume of mail] that there are many people like this out there already.

I'll be notifying you of the URL for the new pledge shortly - DON'T SIGN IT YOURSELF, but see if your friends, family and colleagues will now back YOU up in your fight for our freedom and privacy.

*Finally, I said that there is something that you can do to help us now. Don't forget that we are fighting hard to defeat the Bill so that your pledge may not even be called in. Many of you have said that you'd happily give more than £10, some have already seperately donated and joined NO2ID. If you haven't done so already, please:

1) Sign our petition at http://www.no2id-petition.net and get others to, too.

2) Donate to NO2ID - via Paypal from the front page of our website http://www.no2id.net or by post (cheques payable to 'NO2ID') sent to NO2ID, Box 412, 78 Marylebone High St, London W1U 5AP.

3) If you're able to give £15 or more or set up a regular payment, please do become a member - we hope it will be the shortest subscription that you ever make! Forms and bank details are available online at http://www.no2id.net/getInvolved/join.php or by post from the above address. If you send an SAE it will save campaign funds for our ongoing essential work in Parliament, the media and across the country.

Thank you for your patience with this long e-mail, and my heartfelt thanks for your commitment to fight this thing. Together, I am sure we shall win.

In solidarity,

Phil Booth
National Coordinator, NO2ID
[from: JB Ecademy]


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