UK’s digital ID trust problem now between business and government

It used to be that the UK public’s trust in the government was a barrier to the establishment of a functional digital ID system. Now it seems a lack of private sector trust in the government could pose a barrier. The public’s trust has been rendered mostly irrelevant by changes in the context of the debate.

Those changes are both positive, in the form of consumer choice, and negative, in the form of resignation that our digital footprints and data shared with big tech render the privacy concerns of the Blair government era quaint.

Trust Triangles are an important concept in digital identity, in which relying parties or verifiers can trust a credential presented to them by a user without requiring a formal relationship with the credential’s issuer.

Iron triangles are an important concept in politics and business, in which an interest group provides political backing for a policy that empowers or supports an agency or department. The bureaucracy, in turn, responds to the needs of the interest group, without any need to consult with a broader constituency.

The two types of triangles do not fit together.

Time and reality overcome resistance

The tension between digital identity and age assurance providers and the government since the announcement of an impending Gov.uk digital wallet and mobile driver’s license (mDL) is laid out by Computer Weekly.

The editorial sets the price tag for the defunct Gov.uk Verify program at 250 million pounds (roughly US$332 million), and the cost of the One Login scheme that replaced it at a further £400 million ($531 million).

UK residents will need a One Login account to use the Gov.uk digital wallet, but a cybersecurity vulnerability in One Login appears to have exposed millions of people’s data.

Such news may have landed differently during the UK’s previous attempt to stand up a national digital ID system.

As The Times columnist Hugo Rifkind points out, back then No2ID was a “hugely influential pressure group” leading the pushback against mandatory IDs. Now it advertises gambling websites.

Among the changes in the meantime are the myriad warnings that  “Covid passports” would last forever. Instead, they were retired even before the rants against them on online platforms that operate on a business model of siphoning and monetizing user’s personal data.

The political dynamics have changed too. Tony Blair has taken up the cause of controlling migration to the nation. Rifkind notes that “it’s quite hard to be simultaneously both against undocumented migrants and against documents.”

The government has been careful not to call the government-issued credentials and wallet digital ID, but Gov.uk is already certified to the DIATF. As Rifkind says, “all we’re missing is honesty.”

Business community vs Big Brother?

The Gov.uk digital wallet plan rankles those companies that have poured effort and money into Digital Identity and Attributes Framework (DIATF) certification, as explained in a contentious All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting. No government ministers or representatives of the Government Digital Service (GDS) were present.

Setting up a trust framework for a marketplace of private sector providers and then entering that marketplace with a free product, paid for by taxpayers and operated by a government that has demonstrated ineptitude handling people’s data and delivering digital services has set the providers of consumer choice between UK public and private sector digital IDs against each other.

OneID Founder and Director Rob Kotlarz pointed out at the recent Global Age Assurance Standards Summit that the government has a mandate to support businesses, but no mandate to address their pain points or making them more profitable. And its record with Verify suggests it lacks the expertise to do so anyway.

DSIT Secretary Peter Kyle will meet with trade body TechUK later this month, according to Computer Weekly. The age assurance industry is hoping for some kind of engagement from the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA).

On whether the UK will get digital IDs, Rifkind is blunt: “This fight is over.” But the sides in the next fight are just returning to their corners after round one.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  Gov.UK  |  UK