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Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

reuters.com

271–280 of 809 posts

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#271
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What it will combat is illegal immigrants ability to work Utter rubbish. Do you seriously think those already paying cash-in-hand for delivery drivers, window cleaners, fruit pickers etc will give a toss about someone's lack of an ID card?

No but it makes prosecution easier..right now you can provide a copy of a document, which can be digitally altered, but the employer can say 'i accepted it in good faith' and they have done their due diligence. Having scanned a digital ID and for example that does not match the worker you have employed makes it harder to claim you did due diligence

No, you can't provide just a copy of of a document. This is not a valid check and only providing only a document without share code only works if you are citizen.

"Ask to see the applicant’s original documents. You can no longer accept biometric residence cards or permits. Ask the applicant for a share code instead." [1]

The share code makes it impossible to forge.

If you are an employer and only ask for copies of documents you are liable for a 40k+ fine if you end up hiring an illegal migrant.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#272

What's the benefit of this over a passport? A passport is a physical thing, so you don't need to have a phone to be able to use it, proves who you are with the same details as this digital ID, and will probably require a similar amount of paperwork to get hold of

You usually don't want to carry a passport with you at all times. In some European countries (e.g., the Nordics), you have your ID, driver’s license, firearm license, etc., all in a government app that can be verified with an app used by officials. You can also sign and authenticate all paperwork with the same system

I use my passport to verify my right to work in the US during the first week of my job, and then I don't bring it any other time. So unless you're changing jobs very frequently it shouldn't be necessary to carry all the time. A bigger issue would be that many people do not have passports.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#273

What's the benefit of this over a passport? A passport is a physical thing, so you don't need to have a phone to be able to use it, proves who you are with the same details as this digital ID, and will probably require a similar amount of paperwork to get hold of

Missing the point. A passport is the universal identity document. It's way too valuable to carry around and expediting a new passport is costly and slow. Checks need to be done in person and the passport holder needs to be told in advance about the check (so impromptu checks don't work and expired passports get through, also catching fake passports and the like is hard). A digital ID as its name says is digital, chec…

The government has been able to do checks on me using my passport number etc, like when I was getting my provisional driving license, so somewhere there is a digital version of it on a government server or something. Can't they just make that information available?

What impromptu checks would you need this ID for? The use cases I've seen for it are to make sure you are legal to work, and when renting a house, both of which are circumstances that you can be told about beforehand

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#274

I don't think Kier Starmer understands that when people voted for Labour, they were, in fact, voting for Labour, not Reform / the Tories. This proposal at least has some merit (though it is not without issues) but trying to sell it as preventing illegal work is ludicrous, attempting to appeal to the right-wing votes who will never vote Labour, and giving control of the conversation to the Weasel in Chief, Nigel Farag…

People vote for an idea of Labour that Labour in the last 25 years has not been able to live up to unfortunately.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#275
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You usually don't want to carry a passport with you at all times. In some European countries (e.g., the Nordics), you have your ID, driver’s license, firearm license, etc., all in a government app that can be verified with an app used by officials. You can also sign and authenticate all paperwork with the same system

Good for them, but I don't see why we need this, or indeed why that's a good thing?

Easy and cheap regular checks on the spot presential or/and online, as frequently as you want vs rare scheduled difficult and expensive checks.

Possibilities get realised such as regular remote checks (ie selfie to prove you are the id owner holder, address proof, etc, flagging odd id holder behaviour or employer, etc). Currently, you cannot do this, no visibility into who works where and where that person even resembles the person meant to be working for [insert gig company].

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#276

I don't think Kier Starmer understands that when people voted for Labour, they were, in fact, voting for Labour, not Reform / the Tories. This proposal at least has some merit (though it is not without issues) but trying to sell it as preventing illegal work is ludicrous, attempting to appeal to the right-wing votes who will never vote Labour, and giving control of the conversation to the Weasel in Chief, Nigel Farag…

If he doesn't realise that then he probably also doesn't realise that all this dictatorship tooling he's installing is more than likely going to fall into the hands of Reform at the next election.

He'll have to live with the consequences as will the rest of us.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#277

What's the benefit of this over a passport? A passport is a physical thing, so you don't need to have a phone to be able to use it, proves who you are with the same details as this digital ID, and will probably require a similar amount of paperwork to get hold of

You usually don't want to carry a passport with you at all times. In some European countries (e.g., the Nordics), you have your ID, driver’s license, firearm license, etc., all in a government app that can be verified with an app used by officials. You can also sign and authenticate all paperwork with the same system

I would trust the Nordic governments to write an app to put on my phone and not slurp up all my data and spy on me with it. I can't say the same about the British government

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#278
post #266

So I currently have; A National Insurance Card (needed to get a job), drivers license and passport, one of latter is also needed (in practice) to get a job. Why would a brit card help us reduce the number of people working illegally? The only notable 'employers' of illegal workers in the UK are American tech firms Uber and deliveroo (doordash) because they allow driver substitution without verifying that the substitu…

It has nothing to do with cards and everything to do with data.

But the person you're replying to, just explained to you, how the government already have the relevant data. So it's clearly not about data, because the government already issue his NINO and passport

Edit - I mean, just play it back in your head. The PM is probably watching small boat arrivals and reform polling numbers like a hawk. And here's his idea to fix both problems, and you're saying, actually no, the PM is just doing this to get data on where I go to work, even though they already have my PAYE details

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#279

What's the benefit of this over a passport? A passport is a physical thing, so you don't need to have a phone to be able to use it, proves who you are with the same details as this digital ID, and will probably require a similar amount of paperwork to get hold of

Missing the point. A passport is the universal identity document. It's way too valuable to carry around and expediting a new passport is costly and slow. Checks need to be done in person and the passport holder needs to be told in advance about the check (so impromptu checks don't work and expired passports get through, also catching fake passports and the like is hard). A digital ID as its name says is digital, chec…

The fact that the UK doesn’t allow “impromptu checks”, otherwise known as “Papers please!” is not a bug, it’s a feature that distinguishes our democracy from other states and we are pretty proud of it.
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