2011 Census Puts Your Name on the Bullets By Bryan Berue

It is likely, if not probable, that the 2011 census could be run by defence contractor and munitions manufacturer Lockheed-Martin, that is unless enough people can put pressure on the British Government to bar Lockheed-Martin from the bidding process.

For the first time in history the National Census, normally the responsibility of the Office of National Statistics is to be contracted out and Lockheed-Martin, suppliers and friends to the US military are one of the government's two preferred bidders; the other being T-Systems Ltd -.a telecoms company from Germany. Why does a defence contractor want to know all about you?

US Federal law under the guise of the USA Patriot Act (The acronym stands for: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001) requires that all computer held records stored in the US be made available to government authorities; this information can be gleaned without the authority of the individuals targeted.

In effect the US government and it's agents are able to 'lawfully' spy on it's own citizens as well as accessing all the data recorded on US territory based computers of foreign nationals or 'aliens' (as the US are fond of saying) without their knowledge; for instance, if you apply for a credit card from an MBNA affiliated company, the final part of the application process warns you that if you wish to proceed you are agreeing to your details being privy to the US government. The census form as it stands now, will not give you the option to say no!

With the US Government defence department accounting for 80% of Lockheed-Martin business which combines intelligence gathering and interpretation with net-centric warfare capabilities as well as munitions and missile systems, it is increasingly hard to separate corporation from government, especially when former Lockheed Martin employees and associates now hold positions in the US administration.

Two of many names with dual association here are Stephen Hadley - Bush's National Security Advisor was also a lawyer at Shea & Gardner, whose clients included Lockheed-Martin.

Dick Cheney's son-in-law, Philip J. Perry, a registered Lockheed-Martin lobbyist, who had, while working for a law firm, represented Lockheed-Martin with the Department of Homeland Security, was nominated by Bush to serve as general counsel to the Department of Homeland Security. The list goes on and on and is so long that the relationship between the administration and Lockheed-Martin has been described as 'a revolving door!' and is far too long to detail here.

Please see www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14307 for further details. Anyway, to cut a long story short Lockheed-Martin and the Bush administration are as thick as thieves.

If the British Government does award the 2011 enhanced census contract to Lockheed-Martin, who's to say that the knowledge collected will not be covertly accessed and used by the US and or other interested parties. New questions in the 2011 census will include information about income and place of birth, as well as existing questions about languages spoken in the household and many other personal details.

Given the nepotism between state and corporation I believe it is impossible for Lockheed-Martin to legitimately give any kind of guarantee of privacy concerning UK census data and would suggest that if the Brown government allows the 'sale' of your personal information to a foreign power it would effectively be committing an act of treason. Besides the potential of illegality concerning the transfer of UK census information between Lockheed-Martin and the US, I and many others, including The Green Party, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Labour and Plaid Cymru MPs, consider that it is morally bankrupt to award the census contract to a company that makes its money from the manufacture and sale of weapons of mass destruction and profits from the misery of millons.

We owe it to the dead and the injured, to the orphaned and to the bereaved to resist the push of these corporstate (sic) warmongers to control our lives ever more tightly. If the Government ignores our rights to privacy and awards this contract to Lockheed-Martin, I for one will not dignify a morally bankrupt and flawed census nor condone it with my name, but there may just be one more 'Micky Mouse' in the world!

Please check out the census alert website censusalert.org.uk and in the interests of personal freedom and security please sign the petition and pass it on to as many people as possible, lobby your MP, inform your friends and deny the US this invasion of your privacy.

Be quick though, the decision is made in January. Just Click on the link below to email this page and ask them to comment. Hull East Hull North Hull West & Hessle

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