10 Good Reasons To Scrap The Government Digital ID Scheme
1. More Control. Less Freedom.
Digital ID hands the state unprecedented control. This is new and completely different to a passport or driving licence. We risk making basic freedoms conditional on database approval.
2. Voluntary Today, Mandatory Tomorrow?
What starts as "voluntary convenience" will likely mission creep into a compulsory system tied to every aspect of life: jobs, internet access, banking, healthcare, benefits.... risking "social credit-lite."
3. Britain Never Voted For This.
It's totally undemocratic. Never in manifesto. 3m signed petition against. Public rejected Blair’s ID cards before - and for good reason.
4. Hack Once, Expose Millions?
We all know our data isn’t safe in government hands. Huge digital ID databases will be prime hacking targets, and stolen biometric data can never be replaced. The state's track record - think Horizon, Afghan data breach or Companies House recently - is absolutely dire.
5. Stop The "Papers, Please" Culture.
Government Digital ID normalises a "Papers, Please" culture that erodes anonymity and the presumption of innocence.
6. Leaves Vulnerable People Behind.
It's almost certain to exclude and disadvantage the most vulnerable, locking people out of aspects of society or services due to lack of access, skills, or system errors.
7. Another Billion-Pound IT Failure?
£1.8bn for starters, paid for by cuts to other things. Threatens to become another costly IT failure with huge expense, little benefit. Total costs from Blair's scrapped ID cards were up to £20bn, said London School of Economics.
8. Surveillance State By Stealth.
A national digital ID system reshapes the citizen-state relationship and builds a permanent surveillance infrastructure.
9. One Glitch, Locked Out?
Risks punishing ordinary people through glitches, outages, and new penalties for non-compliance. How do you fancy filling in the gaps on their new database, in your own time, on pain of fines?
10. Trust Future Governments With This?
Even if you trust this one, do you trust all future governments? Obviously not, since you don't know who they will be. It creates lasting tools of control that future governments could easily abuse.
@uklabour, you must scrap this undemocratic, dangerous scheme
Join the campaign to say
#ScrapDigitalID at:
togetherdeclaration.org/ID