If I can do this in a week you can do it in your area too. If you’re into digital rights, and you want to meet up with others to discuss the pressing issues of the day, why not start your own branch of the Open Rights Group?

Here’s what we did:

• Choose how to communicate. We took ORG’s advice and set up shop on meetup.com, which is a paid-for service but with the advantage of being an integrated solution, however there are many other tools you can use to organise yourselves. The trick is to pick one and stick with it.
• Promote the group. We did this before deciding on topics or scheduling our first meeting so that people could express general interest without committing to anything. This encouraged participation. We started off with a post to the org-discuss mailing list and by spreading the word on Twitter, IndyMedia and Postcode Gazette.
• Gather your group’s preferences. We asked everyone two questions when they signed up: when can you meet and what would you like to discuss?
• Arrange a venue. We chose a dedicated community meeting-space rather than a pub, as this allows us access to wifi, a projector and a bit of quiet in which to hold our discussions. It’s also more inclusive of people who don’t drink alcohol. We won’t be forgetting the social side though – there’s a good pub close by and I’m sure the discussion will spill out into it afterwards!
• Meet! Our first meeting will be an opportunity to meet each other, discuss what we consider to be on topic, share the issues we’re passionate about and sort out the arrangements for subsequent meetings.

For future meet-ups the plan is to take what’s worked well for the London group and mix that up with the GIST foundation‘s wealth of experience running myriad special-interest tech-groups in Sheffield.

Each meeting will have a specific topic. One of us will present a short introduction and the rest of the time will then be given over to discussion. We’ll also be mixing in some practical sessions and we’ll invite local experts to give talks whenever we can.

We’re getting some support from ORG too. They’ll be promoting our group to local sympathisers using their mailing lists and they may also be able to send us interesting speakers occasionally.

During each meeting we’ll aim to come up with a list of practical actions for people to take afterwards (if they want to) such as signing a petition, writing to their MP or attending a protest. We’ll be reporting back to the community after every session so that others can read about what we think and share their own views. When other groups get going nearby we’ll go to their meetings and invite them to ours.

If you’re one of the many ORG supporters who wishes they’d get out of London and do more in your area what better way to make this happen than to kick off a local group? It’s really easy and you could find there’s a community of like-minded activists right on your doorstep. So what are you waiting for?

If you want to start up a local group feel free to ask questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to be useful. If you run a similar group already feel free to share your advice and experience!

British civil liberties have been dismantled systematically since 2001. The National Identity Register, biometric passports, the NHS spine, Contactpoint and the Vetting and Barring Scheme are just a few of the most egregious privacy invasions we have suffered.

Our every move is watched with suspicion by the authorities. ANPR systems record every journey we make. Video and audio Surveillance Systems (SS) watch us in every public space and many private ones too. Thousands of public bodies abuse their RIP Act powers to spy on us for trivial reasons. The police can stop us and search us arbitrarily, and they keep “pre-crime” databases on the innocent. Our private communications are monitored, analysed and recorded both by the Government and private companies.

Yet often MPs want one rule for us and another for them. The children of MPs can be “shielded” on ContactPoint to protect their privacy – but ours can’t. Very few MPs have an ID card even though ministers have been doing everything in their power to coerce the public into “volunteering” for them. Many MPs voted to exempt themselves from the Freedom of Information Act, to protect their “privacy”, whilst passing laws that erode ours.

When it comes to liberty in Britain today, all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. This hypocrisy has to end and the systematic assault on our civil liberties must be reversed.

The Power2010 campaign is conducting a letter writing campaign asking Prospective Parliamentary Candidates to:

…commit that, if you are elected, you will vote to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006 and will defend our privacy as fiercely as you would defend your own and that of your family.

The above reproduces what I sent to Sheffield Central PPCs. You can take part in the campaign here.

I know there are many people in Sheffield who care passionately about the Internet. I have spoken to lots of local residents who wrote to their MPs opposing the Digital Economy Bill only to be ignored or fobbed off with form letters. The final insult came when the division bell rang and Sheffield’s so-called representatives were hearded by their party whips into the Aye lobby like sheep, deaf to the howls of protest from their constituents.

We can’t let that kind of slur go unchallenged. There is a General Election at hand, which means we have a chance to change our current party flunkies for representatives who are prepared to do just that: represent us.

I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, but if you feel let down by your MP, I encourage you to find one of their opponents and offer to help them get elected instead. There’s a list of Sheffield consituency candidates on the Sheffield Votes website.

Sheffield Central is the only marginal constituency in South Yorkshire. The Liberal Democrats are the only party with a realistic chance of winning the seat from Labour. Therefore I’ll be at Paul Scriven’s campaign office at 10:00 on Saturday morning to do what I can to get rid of Labour in Sheffield Central. If you’re reading this and you think the Digital Economy Act is a bad idea I urge you to join me.

Sign up here: http://www.pledgebank.com/DEActivateLabour

Frankly, I’m appalled. Any illusions I had about Britain being a representative democracy have been shattered. What’s the point of voting when the people we elect just ignore their constituents and do whatever their party whips tell them to? I find it especially hard to understand how an MP can vote on something without even bothering to take part in the relevant debates. Surely that’s a dereliction of duty? If they won’t scrutinise legislation on our behalf then what are we paying them for?

If any of these so-called “representatives” would like to explain themselves to the people of Sheffield we would love to hear their excuses in the comments.

Oh, and would the last person to leave Digital Britain please switch off the Internet?

I couldn’t have done much more to attract his attention.

In response I have received a single form-letter from a Government department, which restated the policy to which I was objecting without addressing any of my points, accompanied by a covering letter from Mr. Caborn’s office addressed “Dear constituent.” My follow-up letters have thus far failed to elicit an acknowledgement let alone a reply.

When the day came for my issue to be debated in the House of Commons fewer than 5% of MPs bothered to turn up. Richard Caborn was not among them.

Politicians who want to understand why voter apathy is so high should begin by considering how they treat their constituents.

Change is coming to Sheffield Central as Richard Caborn is retiring at the General Election – but will it be change for the better? I have two questions for the Prospective Parlimaentary Candidates competing to replace him:

If you are elected, will you promise to:

1. Act in the interests of your constituents first and your party second?
2. Engage with your constituents whether or not you agree with them?

Please answer in the comments or by email (all responses will be published here). If you choose not to respond then I guess that answers my second question regardless…