LBC – Ministers want a digital ID. They still can’t say what it will actually do

Like many others, I will be watching the debate, which was triggered by almost three million people signing an anti-digital ID petition, with interest. The debate comes a few months after the prime minister announced his plan for a mandatory digital ID for right-to-work checks. Since then, the government’s handling and presentation of the plan can be charitably described as shambolic. However, what we do know about it should concern everyone who values civil liberties.

A brief reminder of how we arrived at the current state of affairs. In late September, Sir Keir Starmer said that everyone seeking work in the UK by the end of the current Parliament will need a free government-issued digital ID. Never mind that such a plan was not in the Labour manifesto and the government ruled out digital IDs only days after the last general election. The government said that a consultation on digital ID will take place before the introduction of digital ID legislation.

On the same day as Starmer’s announcement, the government published a digital ID explainer that offers more questions than answers. Despite the prime minister pitching the digital ID scheme as a means to verify work eligibility, the explainer notes that the new digital ID will make it easier for people to access “vital government services,” including education, welfare claims, and childcare applications. Anyone reading the explainer can be forgiven for asking exactly what the digital ID will be used for, what the supposed security and privacy measures will look like, and why it will deter those who already skirt employment law. It is hardly a surprise that support for the scheme has dropped.

The minister leading the government’s digital ID plan, Darren Jones, seems to have expansive ambitions for the plan, pitching the new digital ID scheme as a means to “shut down the legacy state”. The government is also planning to consult on whether children should be required to obtain a digital ID at the age of 13.

As Big Brother Watch and 12 other organisations told MPs earlier this week, a digital ID scheme would open the door to increased monitoring and surveillance, mandate an infrastructure of mass surveillance, risk worsening digital exclusion, build an attractive digital target for foreign adversaries and criminals, and fundamentally change the traditional relationship between citizens and the state and turn the UK into a permission seeking society. It is not too late for the government to listen to these concerns on Monday and scrap plans for a mandatory digital ID.

The government is keen to press ahead with its digital ID plan. It is far from clear what this plan will look like. This is especially concerning given that this government has a poor track record when it comes to safeguarding our civil liberties, whether it’s age-gating social media or pressing ahead with police use of live facial recognition. It should not be a surprise to anyone if the digital ID initially pitched as a work eligibility scheme morphs into a requirement for social media age verification.

– Matthew Feeney, Advocacy Manager

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/digital-id-civil-liberties-debate-opinion-5HjdP6S_2/

The post LBC – Ministers want a digital ID. They still can’t say what it will actually do appeared first on Big Brother Watch.