| > The simplest form of a digital ID system is that every resident should have a unique number. Does this mean Sweden has had digital ID since the 1940s? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity_number_(Swed... says "When it was introduced in 1947 it was probably the first of its kind covering the total resident population of a country". It sounds instead like the author wants Digital ID to force a solution - a national id - that has a long history of opposition in the UK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polls_on_the_British_n... , when that solution does not require digital technology. > Or the token might generate a barcode on my smartphone, which could be scanned by a landlord letting out a flat or an employer giving me a job. Traditionally what happens is the landlord asks for more and more information, which you "consent" to because you really need housing. (Same for why many "consent" to terms and services they never read.) Or why bars, which legally only need proof of age, want to scan your entire id, including name and address, to check against a digital ban list, entice guest loyalty, and get more accurate demographics. So the bar isn't going to only ask for legally required info (or they will demand the law require them to get name and address for ban lists). How many do you think will say no? Will the law protect those who say no to anything beyond age? > None of this is very different from what happens when I use a credit card. Which is how the credit card companies sell aggregate user data. Eg, https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/how-mastercard-sells-data/ and https://www.vice.com/en/article/envestnet-yodlee-credit-card... for US examples. > Digital ID is, of course, about more than administrative convenience: it allows the denial of services to people who have no right to them, such as irregular migrants No, it does not, at least, not as described. If "The simplest form of a digital ID system is that every resident should have a unique number." then simply knowing the number allows anyone to, for example, vote as someone else. What's missing is the way to establish that the person with the number is the one authorized to use the number. And if Digital ID is voluntary, then all existing ways to access said services are still available. > It is foolish to believe that holes in the population register really protect the innocent. It would also be foolish to ignore the innocent people whose lives were ruined by the British Post Office scandal/Horizon IT scandal. |