DEBATE: Is criticism of the government plan for digital ID cards justified?

Is criticism of the government plan to spend money on digital ID cards justified?

Silkie Carlo, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, says YES.

When Theresa May scrapped Blairite plans for national ID cards in 2010, she warned that they would “increase state control over law abiding people”. 

And yet, this is what the Johnson government (or should we call it the Cummings government?)  is now doing. It’s sobering that a major policy for state expansion can more easily be traced to Dominic Cummings — an unelected bureaucrat (we all become what we once hated) — than to a Conservative manifesto. 

The idea of digitally indexing the population, normalising identity checks and centralising sensitive records about each and every one of us — spanning health, work, travel, benefits, biometric data — is one so totalitarian in nature that seeing it lauded for administrative convenience only makes you wonder how far down the road we’ve already gone. 

The death knell of any unpopular policy, Tony Blair even piped up to support it. He quickly brought the idea to its most absurdly authoritarian conclusion: use digital IDs to check vaccinations. This could easily lead to a health apartheid irreconcilable with a democracy. 

For a man who claims to be able to read public opinion like a Svengali, Cummings has got this drastically wrong. The British public has never accepted national ID cards before — and, I assure you we won’t now.

Gus Tomlinson, general manager of identity fraud Europe at GBG, says NO. 

Empowering digital identity at a national, government level will strengthen opportunities not just for individual citizens, but for the economy as a whole. 

We need to stop viewing digital identities and the data attached as “good” or “bad” — and the proposal for digital ID cards is a step in the right direction.

Through providing reliable access to trustworthy data, education for consumers, and clarity around standards for organisations using digital ID, the government will be able to provide millions of citizens with safe, secure access to digital services. 

The government has also set out a full “criteria for trust” section which gives me — and UK citizens — reassurance that data security and trust is a top priority for this project.

In terms of spending their money wisely, the government should ensure the infrastructure set up to deliver digital ID cards works seamlessly with the private sector, and meets industry standards for security and experience.

Overall, this is an exciting opportunity and a step forward in improving people’s lives for the digital age.

Main image credit: Getty