Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 809 posts

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#241

Post by masfuerte »

pjc50 wrote: post #199

> There will be no requirement for individuals to carry their ID or be asked to produce it - but digital ID will be mandatory as a means of proving your Right to Work. So it's mandatory for everyone except old people and the unemployed. It will almost certainly also be mandatory for renting, which has the same check. Then it will gradually seep into everything else: benefits and pensions, to cover the categories not…

It will eventually be required for everybody except the wealthy.

Just like nearly everybody's medical privacy has been given away in the UK.

Like nearly everybody's rights are unenforceable because they can't pay the enormous costs of a court action.

British freedom is great if you can afford it.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#242

Post by pjc50 »

surgical_fire wrote: post #228
celticninja wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Id cards are not unpopular with the general public. That's just what the daily mail wants you to think. https://bsky.app/profile/samfr.bsky.social/post/3lzq2w3ovgk2...

This is HN, it is unsurprising that you will find complaints of people who think governments are icky. You know, the usual libertarian bullshit. I lived in countries that have mandatory unique IDs, and countries that don't. Typically the countries that do not are more a pain in the ass to deal with, because institutions will proxy to the next best thing in the absense of an actual ID, typically documents that are not…

There's three separate questions:

- is it a good idea to tie various public records together under a unique ID

- is it a good idea to issue voluntary ID for those situations where people need to prove it

and the big, third one:

- where is this going to be made mandatory and under what circumstances will it be used against people?

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#243

Post by mavhc »

pjc50 wrote: post #236
KaiserPro wrote: post #231

I am in two minds on this. 1) I don't like centralised ID, its ripe for abuse. 2) I don't like the idea of crapita/accenture/G4S/some other dipshit company designing and running this. However if its an extension of the government gateway, then actually the only "innovation" here is the presumable fine for not keeping it up to date. (that and the smartphone integration, which I suspect is largely symbolic) So long as…

Exactly, as I said in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45385512 it's a question of trust and purpose; I don't trust these people, the companies behind them, the public opinion they choose to pander to, and the stated purpose of immigration enforcement. Something similar to Estonia would be much less controversial.

What did Estonia do correctly that UK has not?

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#244

Post by cassianoleal »

mrtksn wrote: post #38
remarkEon wrote: post #21

>The proposals are the government's latest bid to tackle illegal immigration, with the new ID being a form of proof of a citizen's right to live and work in the UK. How does a digital ID solve an illegal immigration problem? I watched the video and the suggestion is that this makes it easier for employers to verify that someone is authorized to work. Is that actually true? I don't live in the UK and have not visited…

The banks and service providers can ask for your digital ID, the employers can ask for your digital ID and when that becomes the standart you will have very hard time to have a life in UK without having all the permissions. Most of EU and many other countries have something like that, at least you have a citizenship or resident number that they can check against to see what's your situation. In UK though, everything…

> The banks and service providers can ask for your digital ID, the employers can ask for your digital ID and when that becomes the standart you will have very hard time to have a life in UK without having all the permissions.

They already ask you for a "share code" which they then verify on the Home Office website. What does the Digital ID add to that?

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#245

Post by benmmurphy »

I don't understand how people are able to work in the UK illegally without employers already breaking the law. Employers are required to pay payroll taxes for their employees and you need a national insurance number for the employee to do this. I'm not sure how this fixes something that should already be fixed.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#246

Post by cassianoleal »

benmmurphy wrote: post #245

I don't understand how people are able to work in the UK illegally without employers already breaking the law. Employers are required to pay payroll taxes for their employees and you need a national insurance number for the employee to do this. I'm not sure how this fixes something that should already be fixed.

Not just that but there's already the "share code" system that's used to verify status against the Home Office.

This smells a lot of "think of the children" [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_of_the_children

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#247

Post by surgical_fire »

pjc50 wrote: post #242
surgical_fire wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is HN, it is unsurprising that you will find complaints of people who think governments are icky. You know, the usual libertarian bullshit. I lived in countries that have mandatory unique IDs, and countries that don't. Typically the countries that do not are more a pain in the ass to deal with, because institutions will proxy to the next best thing in the absense of an actual ID, typically documents that are not…

There's three separate questions: - is it a good idea to tie various public records together under a unique ID - is it a good idea to issue voluntary ID for those situations where people need to prove it and the big, third one: - where is this going to be made mandatory and under what circumstances will it be used against people?

> - is it a good idea to tie various public records together under a unique ID

Generally, yes. It simplifies dealing with government bureaucracy. Proving your identity is generally something you will have to do anyway, this is will just remove a bunch of hoops you have to go through.

> - is it a good idea to issue voluntary ID for those situations where people need to prove it

One of the countries I lived in had a system similar to this one. It worked fine - typically you only needed this ID when opening a bank account or registered for work. Originally it was a tax registration ID (which is why it was related to banking and working), but it was secure enough that it was later repurposed as the actual unique ID. Nowadays I think they issue one to every registered person (e.g. newborns).

> - where is this going to be made mandatory and under what circumstances will it be used against people?

We are talking about the government here, who has the monopoly of force. If you live in an authoritarian country where the government fucks over citizens, they will do it to you irrespective of you having a mandatory ID or not.

My actual main concern is the level of access private corporations have to the records tied to this unique ID. I am highly suspicious of corporations (e.g.: banks, healthcare providers, etc).

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#248

Post by jaggs »

pjc50 wrote: post #199

> There will be no requirement for individuals to carry their ID or be asked to produce it - but digital ID will be mandatory as a means of proving your Right to Work. So it's mandatory for everyone except old people and the unemployed. It will almost certainly also be mandatory for renting, which has the same check. Then it will gradually seep into everything else: benefits and pensions, to cover the categories not…

Please stop Americanizing the UK. ICE does not exist in the UK.

Re: Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

#249

Post by zahllos »

brianmcc wrote: post #217
paperpunk wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the linked page: > In designing the digital ID scheme, the government will ensure that it works for those who aren’t able to use a smartphone, with inclusion at the heart of its design.

The technologically inept get QR codes tattooed on their foreheads.

Please don't give them ideas!
Post reply on HN