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Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

reuters.com

311–320 of 809 posts

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#311
post #81
post #17

I'm not clear if this is digital ONLY or if I people can choose to carry a physical card when required, instead of a smartphone. If it's the former, then it means it's now mandatory for all British citizens to become customers of the Google/Apple duopoly LOL

And "become customers" means it will become mandatory to sign away your rights to a foreign corporation by agreeing to their terms of service. This kind of abuse of power is a clear example of why the UK needs a real constitution.

And if Google bans you for some reason (which they have been known to do sometimes), I guess you'll be kicked out of the country unless you buy an iPhone.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#312

I feel like governments worldwide are perennially musing “ what if we could know what everyone is doing, all the time? ”

This is a natural and unfortunate consequence of crime and foreign aggression getting increasingly borderless. As the world gets smaller, and as more and more of the world's population knows about the outside world, the more badness we face.

Like it or not, our high-trust society is devolving into a low-trust society as the world opens up. Our defences must evolve -- and the current free-for-all needs to end.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#313
It's quite possible that this whole digital ID thing is a red herring, to distract from recent revelations about Morgan McSweeney - who illegally took money from the Israel lobby, to fund a fake "antisemitism crisis" in Labour, with the goal of replacing Corbyn with Israel-aligned Starmer.

Some of the digital ID proposal documents published by UK gov even bear the "Labour Together" stamp - Labour Together being the Israel-aligned "think tank" that McSweeney used for the illegal funds!

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And in a situation where that is warranted (e.g. a traffic violation), you should probably have some form of proof of identification on you anyway

In the UK all cars have number plates front and rear, so that's covered already.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#315
post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 j…

I think it's 100% about the data. I beleive that Labour see this new ID system as the solution to all the age verification questions now required by the Online Safety Act. e.g. access to things like Reddit, BlueSky messaging, Spotify. With that in mind I think new data you're talking about will be enhanced tracking and monitoring on everyday online activity of UK citizens.

I don't think it is only online. It is really a distopean future in US and UK right now.

I honestly understand the problem with immigration, but at the same time, I think this way of approaching the problem is just to create "the enemy" from 1984.

It seems that immigrants right now move something between 4B-10B a month in UK which is not a small number. Considering the costs elsewhere altogether, it seems quite small win for the risk.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#316

HARD eye-roll at the libertarian scaremongering about this basic, sensible idea to tame the identity mess. * I have half a dozen different ID numbers for various things like NI, NHS, drivers license, tax etc * I also have a dozen different GOV.UK logins for various services. * When need to provide strong proof of identity to AWS to reset a root password, I have to go to a notary and pay £200 for a signature and stamp…

[deleted]

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#317

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…

Their strategy seems to be that they think their left flank is secure and they need to pull to the right to secure Tory voters who are now at a crossroads with how diminished the Tories are. Will they go to Reform? Will they go back to the Tories? The Lib Dems? It seems that Labour think some of the toughness without the undertones that Reform often has might grab them some of their voters. Maybe the implosion of Your Party gives them a feeling of more security on the left flank.

But yeah, this abandonment of the issues they traditionally represented to try and attract the soft centre right voters might not cause their traditional base to vote for the Tories. But it might send their centrists to the Lib Dems, their lefties to the Greens/SNP/etc and their "I just want change, any change" supporters to Reform. Along with increasing apathy and reducing turnout on their former core. Polling certainly seems to indicate that this is happening.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#318
post #286

Unlike the NI number, which you can't legally work without...

This is not true. You can work without a NI number, you will just be given an emergency tax code. A NI number is not ID, it is a reporting number.

Your card literally says, "THIS IS NOT IDENTIFICATION"

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#319
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…

A Brit can pass a RTW check without a drivers license or a passport - a paper birth certificate is also acceptable (and paper can be lost, damaged, forged), as neither a drivers license or a passport a mandatory. Getting those can be expensive for some people while this ID is free. A NI number is not ID, it's a reporting number. Lastly, a national ID is a tried and tested scheme in many, many countries and brings a l…

I appreciate that, I decided to exclude it for simplicity because obviously not everyone working here was born here :)

I don't really understand why I need a Fourth (or Fifth)! National ID?

I don't really get the point on reporting number, true, but it's also a UID linked to a passport or birth certificate.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#320
In Sweden we have bank id that you can optionally use as ID (new feature). But its mostly used to validate purchases, sign things, or login to banks, government websites or whatever website might use it to auth. It does not hand over all id information to the site that uses it to identify you, just name and personal number.
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