The King’s Speech signals that digital ID in the UK is a go – again

The King hath spoken: his ministers will “proceed with the introduction of Digital ID that will modernise how citizens interact with public services.” There’s only that passing reference to the Digital Access to Services Bill in the King’s Speech, published today. But it’s enough for providers to declare that digital ID is firmly on the legislative agenda.

Is it the right legislation? Who stands to benefit? What are the long-term implications? These are the big questions the UK finds itself facing, as it once again tussles with an insistent government pushing a national digital identity scheme.

Provider advocate for competitive, interoperable market

In comments emailed to Biometric Update, Yoti CEO Robin Tombs emphasizes that, while the principle is right, it’s important that participation remains optional and offers choices, “with citizens free to verify their identity through government-issued or private sector solutions that have been certified to the DVS Trust Framework.”

“A healthy, competitive and interoperable market is more likely to drive innovation, stronger security standards and deliver better user experiences that build lasting public trust.”

Tombs says that, “while the direction of travel is positive, the practical impact of the Bill announcement will depend on the detail still to come, particularly whether citizens will be able to store and use government-backed credentials across certified private sector wallets, or only within a government-operated app. That distinction will be critical in determining how open, competitive and interoperable the future UK digital identity ecosystem becomes.”

ID scheme treads dreaded path of Blair

Some believe the whole notion of a government digital ID is a non-starter. “Haven’t we been through all this already?” asks an editorial in the Independent, commenting on the public consultation on UK digital ID, which closed in early May. Compulsory ID has never been popular in the UK, where the “papers, please” approach is historically associated with antidemocratic regimes – in the writer’s words, “alien to British tradition.”

“In much of the world carrying a photo ID card, or the smartphone equivalent, is perfectly normal,” says the piece. But national ID in the UK also carries the musk of former prime minister and longtime digital ID proponent Tony Blair. Blair’s BritCard project was ignominiously killed in 2011 by the Coalition government that followed his tenure in power.

Much of the brouhaha around digital ID is the perception that the government intends to make it mandatory. An initial plan by PM-for-now Keir Starmer to make it mandatory for Right to Work checks backfired, forcing Starmer to backtrack. But the Independent expresses the fear that, while it won’t be compulsory initially, “it might eventually evolve that way.”

It might also end up as a train wreck. “It’s not inconceivable,” says the paper, that “it would follow the British tradition of great public works and be massively overspent or never work properly at all. Billions could be wasted, even while most people already have passports or digital driving licences; it isn’t obvious why a specific ID system on top of those is necessary. Worse still would be the consequences of any major data breach, with the distinct possibility that digital ID would make identity theft and fraud easier for hackers.”

Take it from Estonia: transparency works

The National News has comments from Karoliina Ainge, former head of cyber security policy for Estonia, which made its digital ID infrastructure available on Github in 2016. For Ainge, the goal is to make digital ID as dull as possible: just another public utility, rather than a mass surveillance threat.

“It has to be done with that sort of transparency and the boringness that the technology actually deserves,” she says. “The way to securing any government digital service is around transparency as much as possible; It should be open source. It should be very clear what you are building.”

This approach has worked in Estonia; since the source code for the electoral software is open source, anyone can audit it – which has strengthened public trust.

“If you don’t build it through sort of an honest discussion with the population, it’s never going to be trusted no matter what it is.”

Ada Lovelace Institute applauds biometrics commitments

Nuala Polo leads UK public policy at the Ada Lovelace Institute, and in a LinkedIn post, she welcomes the government’s promise to introduce legislation governing law enforcement use of facial recognition and biometrics, “putting one of the UK’s most contested policing technologies onto a clearer legal footing.”

The UK, she says, “urgently needed an ambitious new legislative framework for biometrics. It has taken time, but Parliament is now in a position to act.”

“Designed in the right way, a framework can deliver genuine accountability and public confidence, but only if it sets meaningful limits on the most intrusive uses, captures the full range of facial recognition deployments and is underpinned by an empowered, well-resourced regulator.”

Moreover, law enforcement is just one facet of the prism. “Restricting the framework to police and public authorities would leave the rapidly growing use of biometrics in retail, workplaces, transport and other public-facing spaces effectively unregulated, where equivalent harms can occur without equivalent safeguards. Core protections must extend to private sector and commercial deployments too.”

All Field is saying, is give DVS a chance

Also on LinkedIn, Adrian Field of OneID says that the key question to emerge from the King’s Speech is “access to which services?”

“If it’s public services as the King says, then any new approach needs to build on and complement One Login, which is already providing digital access to all public services by 2027. And for any private sector services, we already have digital access to services via the established marketplace of Digital Verification Services under the Data Act. It would be good to see more support from the government for DVS services to digitise, secure and grow our economy.”

Article Topics

Ada Lovelace Institute  |  digital ID  |  digital verification service (DVS)  |  DVS Trust Framework  |  government services  |  OneID  |  UK digital ID  |  Yoti