John Oates

[FOI #18395 email]

Reference: IPS 1052/9

16 October 2009

Dear Mr Oates,

Thank you for your email of 22 September about MyLifeMyID. I apologise for the delay in responding.

MyLifeMyID ran for three months from July to October 2008. It was delivered by Virtual Surveys under contract to the Identity Passport Service (IPS). Details of the contractual arrangements were clearly available on the IPS website, after a number of FOI requests.

MyLifeMyID was an entirely open Web 2.0 research community, and as such was not a representative sample. Community members were self selecting and came from links in other sites (such as No2ID) and adverts placed around the internet. Members were able to create their own discussion threads, quite separate from the research undertaken on the site. Members were well aware of the duration of the project, with the final week being highly visible. At the end of the project, moderators confirmed that the site would be taken down, and some members chose to create mirror sites before the data was lost from public view.

Some weeks later, the final report on MyLifeMyID was submitted to IPS.

As our work with young people is still continuing, it was decided to wait and publish a full picture of the insights gained at the end of the process

I am grateful for the time you have taken to write in.

Yours faithfully,

On behalf of James Hall, Chief Executive and Registrar General

Passport Adviceline: 0300 222 0000 (07.00 - 23.00 seven days a week).

Email us at [Identity & Passport Service request email]. Visit our website at www.ips.gov.uk.

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