The Government finally looks set to bring in a form of digital ID – nearly 20 years since Tony Blair attempted to introduce mandatory ID cards, only to be thwarted by Whitehall bureaucrats and civil liberties campaigners.
Labour may have finally won over the Whitehall bureaucrats on this issue, but the framework for digital IDs has actually been in development for several years. The Conservative government oversaw large scale digitalisation of government functions including passport and driving licence systems through gov.uk, though it did not go nearly far enough.
There is still strong resistance from civil liberties campaigners, but the reality is that individuals now freely share huge amounts of their private data with companies across the internet. Younger generations operate on a completely different level to their more technophobic forebears. Most Gen Z’ers broadcast their live locations to friends through apps like Snapchat and Find My Friends without a second thought. They’ve given up carrying physical wallets, preferring Apple Pay to cash and cards.
Physical ID cards have become just another inconvenience – often carried in the backs of iPhone cases ready to pop open at the request of nightclub bouncers.
Business has already stepped in to provide an off-the-shelf solution. Yoki has been working with the Government as a middleman on the CitizenCard, a free ID card available to all UK citizens, and provides digitalised proof of identity for right to work, right to rent and criminal records checks in the UK.
Jersey already requires islanders to have a Yoki digital ID to access government services and allows the sale of alcohol to be verified via the app. Some 5 million people in the UK use digital ID for things like buying lottery tickets, collecting parcels at the post office and proving their age at retailers.
It’s clear that demand already exists and business is well prepared to meet it. Digital ID just needs the Government to legislate for its expanded use.
Apple has already introduced a native digital ID function within their wallet app, allowing users to add IDs in the same way they would a credit or debit card. To verify their age, NFT scanners verify directly with an iPhone using facial recognition rather than needing a physical check via a shop assistant.
It’s a quicker and more efficient system. Think of the ease of going through self-checkout with a couple of bottles of prosecco: to pay, simply tap your digital ID on the card reader in the same way you would usually pay. No need to wait endlessly while a shop assistant attempts to solve the problems of the other three people in need of their attention. Or rather than bar staff asking to see your ID and doing the mental maths of your age in their head, you can quickly tap a machine to verify your age, taking away the inevitability of human error. California and Japan are the latest places to greenlight this technology.
The UK lags behind them due to regulatory hold-ups, but rather than legislating to come into line with others, we should go further. Uploading your physical ID onto your smartphone should be the first step in a much wider rollout of digital ID. We should look to the likes of Estonia, which has a single digital ID for all citizens, allowing them to access all government functions, including tax, benefits and healthcare.
It’s madness that in the 21st century we have such a disorganised system of ID cards and identity numbers from multiple government agencies. Passports, driving licences, your NHS number and National Insurance number, Veteran IDs and the recently introduced CitizenCards to name but a few.
The Government needs to be bold. It should seek to amalgamate many of these into a single digital ID that allows individuals to access government functions easily and accessibly.
Not only would it remove huge amounts of government waste and bureaucracy that thrive on archaic ways of doing things, it would also reduce benefit fraud with a clear understanding of who someone is and what they are entitled to from the state.
The same goes for immigration. As a CPS report, ‘Stopping the Crossings’, recently highlighted, introducing ID cards would prevent illegal immigrants from falsely claiming benefits and unfairly accessing the NHS when they don’t pay into the system. It would also mean being able to properly account for the number of people in the country and provide the Government with the ability to properly forecast changes in population size.
Of course, we should take the opportunity to listen to the arguments that civil liberties campaigners make. Using them to strengthen the security and design of digital IDs to protect consumer privacy and still provide an offline alternative for those who aren’t yet ready to move across. But the Government shouldn’t be held back by a few loud voices when the majority of the UK is ready to move forward.
The changes announced by Digital Secretary Peter Kyle are very welcome, but he must set his sights wider to really expand the use of digital ID. Doing so would completely transform the way government and individuals operate, saving Whitehall cash and putting money back into the digital wallets of ordinary people.
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