CONTENTS
(1) GREENS DEMAND BOYCOTT OF LOCKHEED MARTIN CENSUS TRIAL, May 2007
(2) CENSUS ALERT (UK) WEB-SITE, June 2008. (Has information on the 2006 census Lockheed Martin boycott in Canada.)
(3) LOCKHEED MARTIN SELECTED FOR CONTRACTS ON UK CENSUS, August 28, 2008
(Note: the same thing as in Canada, Lockheed Martin gets work on the census “trial” and then, of course, the census contracts. Also, I was in contact with some of these people a couple of years ago.)
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(1) GREENS DEMAND BOYCOTT OF LOCKHEED MARTIN CENSUS TRIAL, May 2007
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/09/census_boycott/
Greens demand boycott of Lockheed Martin census trial
Births, deaths and munitions
By Mark Ballard • Posted in Public Sector, 9th May 2007 15:52 GMT
The Green Party has called for a boycott of the UK’s 2007 census pilot because it is being run by US weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
Writing in the New Statesman yesterday, Green Party spokeswoman Sian Berry relayed her alarm that Lockheed, “biggest defence contractor in the world; manufacturer of land mines, depleted uranium shells and Trident missiles; provider of freelance interrogators for Guantanamo Bay; and self-proclaimed master of ‘integrated threat information’,” would be running the UK census trial on 13 May.
“As an all-round opponent of the arms trade, supporting companies like this with public contracts alarms me,” said Berry in a statement today. “It’s a bad sign of the developing database state, and shows that ID cards could lead to our identities being under the control of some very doubtful corporations.”
She claimed that NASA had already tried to use US census data to create a database of suspect people, but had been stopped by civil liberties campaigners.
“The only responsible and prudent thing to do in this situation is to boycott the test census. Non-participation sends a signal to the government that we want more controls on who processes information about us.”
On the part of Lockheed’s website devoted to its military intelligence business, the firm boasts: “During times of conflict, dominating the information spectrum has become as critical as occupying the land or controlling the air.”
But in a written statement, Lockheed said: “All the information collected is protected by law under the Census [Confidentiality] Act 1991, and all Lockheed Martin and subcontractor personnel have signed individual compliance agreements.
“At no time will the information leave the government facilities operated by the Office for National Statistics. Census forms will be held securely under the terms of the Public Records Act 1958.”
The statement said Lockheed already does work for the Royal Mail, auto-reading hand-written address labels; and it provides air traffic control software. In defence, it manufactures the Royal Navy’s Merlin helicopter.
It did not mention land mines, missiles, or other highlights of the Lockheed Martin catalogue.
Berry wasn’t reassured: “I think it will take a lot more than that to convince people their details will be safe. Not using an American arms company to run the census would be a start.”
The weekend’s trial is a preparation for the full census in 2011. The Office of National Statistics, which runs the census and contracted Lockheed, was not available for comment, but census director Ian Cope said in reply to Berry’s article that the boycott was “short-sighted and irresponsible”. ®
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(2) CENSUS ALERT (UK) WEB-SITE, June 2008. (Has information on the 2006 census Lockheed Martin boycott in Canada.)
(Link no longer valid) http://censusalert.org.uk/
Latest news: our petition closed on 15 June 2008, with no decision yet made on Lockheed Martin’s involvement.
We received a response on 10 July but this gave us no reassurance that data will be kept safe.
(Link no longer valid: Read the government’s response, and our response to their )response, here
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The next UK Census will be in 2011. Help us stop it being run by an arms company with close links to the United States government.
Screen Captures (July 2014 – the domain name fees have not been paid, the site is not active at this time.)
What’s the problem?
The process of running the 2011 Census will be contracted out by the Office of National Statistics to a private company.
One of the two contractors in the final round of selection is the arms company Lockheed Martin, 80% of whose business is with the US Department of Defense and other Federal Government agencies.
This might concern you because:
- The Census rules mean that every household will be legally obliged to provide a wide range of personal information that will be handled by the chosen contractor.
- Lockheed Martin produces missiles and land mines which are being used in Afghanistan and Iraq and which are illegal in many countries.
- They also focus on intelligence and surveillance work and boast of their ability to provide ‘integrated threat information’ that combines information from many different sources.
- 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.
- This information would be very useful to Lockheed Martin’s intelligence work, and fears that the data might not be safe could lead to many people not filling in their Census forms.
Census Alert is therefore campaigning to stop Lockheed Martin from being given the contract.
The campaign is supported by the Green Party, politicians from Plaid Cymru, Labour and the Scottish National Party, and others opposed to the arms trade and concerned about personal privacy.
We are not opposed to the Census itself. Aggregated, the information collected is important in allocating resources to local authorities and public services.
But personal privacy is important too, and we are concerned that Lockheed Martin’s involvement could undermine public confidence in the process and lead to inaccurate data being collected. . . . .
(Please go to the website for more information. There is a page on this UK website:
Canada’s census and Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin were also involved in the 2006 Census in Canada, and a campaign calling for a boycott was organised by Vive le Canada and supported by progressive … etc.
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(3) LOCKHEED MARTIN SELECTED FOR CONTRACTS ON UK CENSUS, August 28, 2008
(Link no longer valid: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/pressreleases/2008/0828_lmuk-2011-census.html)
Lockheed Martin Awarded £150M Contract to Support 2011 Census for England and Wales, and Northern Ireland
London, UK, August 28th, 2008 — Today, Lockheed Martin UK and its industry team were selected by the Office for National Statistics to support the 2011 Census for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The approximately £150M contract award comes after an extensive competition which required the Lockheed Martin UK-led team to demonstrate its ability to provide secure and accurate data capture and processing support services.
“We are proud to again support the Office for National Statistics in conducting its census,” said Ian Stopps, chief executive of Lockheed Martin UK. “Together, with our industry team, we are committed to delivering a system that enables the government to efficiently and effectively perform the 2011 Census while ensuring that all information remains secure and confidential”
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Lockheed Martin, who successfully provided the data capture elements of the 2001 UK Census, as well as previous censuses for Canada and the United States, has created a consortium of UK-based companies with proven experience. Team members are Broadcasting Support Services (bss), Cable & Wireless, Logica (UK) Ltd, Oracle Corporation UK, Polestar Group, Royal Mail, Steria Ltd, and UK Data Capture Ltd.
Working with the ONS and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) authorities, the team will design, install and support an innovative system using state-of-the-art character recognition and colour processing for paper census forms. The system will, for the first time, allow for census questionnaires to be completed via the Internet in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Lockheed Martin UK, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is a leader in systems integration working on major programmes spanning the aerospace, defence and civil sectors. Lockheed Martin UK works with more than 100 business partners and employs over 1,700 people at a dozen sites across the UK.
Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2007 sales of $41.9 billion.
Media Contact:
UK: Chris Trippick; 02077982888; mobile: 07905356646; chris.trippick@lmco.com
For additional information, visit our websites:
http://www.lockheedmartin.co.uk
http://www.lockheedmartin.com