DIATF community argues for ditching Gov.uk digital wallet in APPG meeting

The UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Digital Identity held a contentious meeting Wednesday, with stakeholders from the age assurance and digital identity industry presenting a case for the government to abandon its planned Gov.uk digital wallet.

No staff from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DIST), which is responsible for the Gov.uk platform, including the One Login system for public service access, were present at the meeting, further inflaming the sense of a disconnect between the digital ID industry and the government.

Representatives from Yoti, OneID, the Age Verification Provider’s Association (AVPA) and Consult Hyperion were among the voices from the age assurance and digital ID verification community heard during the meeting.

Legal Consultant Richard Oliphant presented transparency and communication with the digital identity industry as a major industry concern. The taxpayer-funded Gov.uk digital wallet is a threat to investment in the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), and risks blocking a choice of methods for proof of identity, which could also spark a privacy backlash.

There was originally supposed to be a clear boundary to the uses of IDs provided by the public and private sector, Oliphant said,

The One Login system is set to cost taxpayers at least 329 million pounds (approximately US$436 million), according to Oliphant.

The Data (Use and Access) Bill that will provide the statutory footing for the DIATF also includes an Information Gateway, which also provides a way for the UK to distribute the mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) announced in January.

“I am all for the DVLA issuing mDLs for a proof of age, identity and address,” Oliphant says in a LinkedIn post. “But they should give mDLs (and other government credentials) to DIATF-certified wallets via the Information Gateway. That, after all, is the intended purpose of the Information Gateway and it obviates any need for a government super wallet.”

If digital wallets from the government and private sector are to co-exist, they will have to be equivalent in legal standing and promotion, Oliphant argues. The public will have to be assured that the wallet issued by the government does not have special “official” status that makes it preferable. Otherwise, he warns, private investment will flee the sector.

Article Topics

age verification  |  digital ID  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  digital wallets  |  Gov.UK  |  Richard Oliphant  |  UK