LONDON -- A consumer group in the U.K. is urging residents to renew their passports this month in order to avoid being listed in a national identity registry for the next 10 years.

The London-based group, called No2ID, is campaigning against the planned adoption of national ID cards because of concerns that the security of personal data could be put at risk in the ID card system.

Under the Identity Cards Act, which was approved by Parliament this year, the passport application and renewal process will be used to collect biometric data and other information that will be stored on cards and in the national registry.

Phil Booth, national coordinator for No2ID, said that since the registry hasn't been set up yet, renewing now would allow citizens to avoid being included in the registry's database for the 10 years their passports will be valid.

No date has been set for starting to collect data for the ID cards, said a spokeswoman for the U.K. government's Home Office. Use of the identity registry is scheduled to begin in 2008, she added.