My thoughts and ramblings on digital ID
By Tom Elliott
Just thought I would drop a comment/contribute on digital IDs for the newsletter:
I’ve found the panic and confusion about digital ID fascinating as well as frightening. I’ve raised this with friends and would ask you the same questions:
1. Do you have an NHS number?
2. Do you have a National Insurance number?
3. Do you have a smartphone?
So far only a 100% Yes response and I would ask the same of all the members of Cornwall for Europe, it is only the smartphone where I may get a No response.
The fear that has been generated on this issue reminds me of the bogeyman of the EU – unsubstantiated claims, a desire from the media to oppose it and why? Is it purely because it’s a Labour Government or is it anti Keir Starmer? Either way, it goes to show the power of the media in stirring up an anti-feeling with no rational explanation. The population was generally in favour of it up until the prime minister announced it and then the bots went into overdrive on social media and now the country is strongly against it – according to the Daily Mail.
I raise this point as we have to realise that the fight to return to Europe is turning our way, however the levels of misinformation driven by the extremely wealthy and foreign agents will make it harder.
There may be members of this group that are against a digital ID card, I’ve heard it is big brother all over again. However, “the State” already has all of our details, we are all known by a number or combination of letters and numbers. All this is doing is allowing us to keep control of it on our phones, whilst saving employers time and money in ensuring the person has the right to work. This is just like my NHS card which I still have and my NI card which again I still have. I’m far more concerned about the foreign oligarchs who have far more data and are far better than any government at manipulating it and us!
We submit and open ourselves up to more information by having a smartphone and having any app on there than this proposed digital identity. I welcome the fact that I have the NHS app on my phone. I can contact and book injections, appointments and they can contact me instantly – all through a digital version of my NHS number.
In the coming months we will all have to register our fingerprints and have a retinal scan to go to Europe where an identity card is the norm and many of my German friends find it odd that the Brits are so against them. Then again, they still don’t understand why we wanted to leave the EU, but that is a separate story. Or is it? The same people who are against this appear to be the same as were against the EU. They also seem to be the greatest cheerleaders for authoritarian leaders and police rule in the UK – it truly is an oxymoron.
We live in a world where increasingly digital IDs are used all the time and the government’s one is far less intrusive and is there to enable people. If you truly are against digital ID – and you may be – I suggest that you smash your smartphone, delete your social media profiles and get rid of your computer, as these all hold far more data than any digital ID the government may introduce.
And remember next time you access the NHS, claim your pension or do your tax return the government has all of this data already. It is why we could freely travel to the EU in the past and hopefully will be able to do so in the future.
