Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

Post by sterlind » Fri, Sep 26, 2025, 9:09 PM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #399

aftergibson wrote: post #189

A secure, optional digital ID could be useful. But not in today’s UK. Why? Because the state has already shown it can’t be trusted with our data. - Snoopers’ Charter (Investigatory Powers Act 2016): ISPs must keep a year’s worth of records of which websites you visit. More than 40 agencies—from MI5 to the Welsh Ambulance Service—can request it. MI5 has already broken the rules and kept data it shouldn’t have. - Encry…

Italy has got an ID card since forever. Of course it was a piece of paper, it's a piece of plastic with a chip now. There is some experimentation to move that into the state app. Everything accelerates when it becomes digital, for the better or for the worse. One thing that an ID does not do is preventing crime and allowing only legal jobs. People find a lot of ways to circumvent the rules as long as there are money…

Post by sterlind » Fri, Sep 26, 2025, 9:11 PM UTC

tripplyons wrote: post #549

v3xro wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> living at taxpayers' expense Presumably the form for applying for benefits has a reasonably high bar for identifying the fact that you are in fact legally present in the country? Or how else do you imagine people living at "taxpayer's expense"? Just begging on the streets?

The streets themselves are maintained at the expense of taxpayers, regardless of who is begging on them.

Post by EasyMark » Fri, Sep 26, 2025, 9:13 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #534

drnick1 wrote: post #446

And, of course, that digital ID will require an "approved app" (blessed by Apple and Google) running on an unrooted phone. Don't want spyware running on your phone? Too bad.

Huh? Spyware, ransomware, etc. is a dangerous problem on rooted phones. It's the unrooted ones that have protections against it.

Post by sterlind » Fri, Sep 26, 2025, 9:14 PM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #562

a022311 wrote: post #402

The same thing is happening in Greece. The new mandatory digital ID replaces and unifies everything about citizens in one place, "to make it easier for government services to share information between each other". It can indeed be useful, but the privacy implications are enormous. Just imagine that a policeman, employer or anybody else with access to the information linked to the ID can instantly view our medical rec…

Maybe I'm too cynical but from where I'm sitting Google and Apple already have all the info about citizens in a giant database that they use for their own purposes. Why are we upset that the government might create a more limited database? The cows are long since out of the barn on "don't collect a giant database of everyone's personal information"

Post by ninalanyon » Fri, Sep 26, 2025, 9:14 PM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #562

a022311 wrote: post #402

The same thing is happening in Greece. The new mandatory digital ID replaces and unifies everything about citizens in one place, "to make it easier for government services to share information between each other". It can indeed be useful, but the privacy implications are enormous. Just imagine that a policeman, employer or anybody else with access to the information linked to the ID can instantly view our medical rec…

Maybe I'm too cynical but from where I'm sitting Google and Apple already have all the info about citizens in a giant database that they use for their own purposes. Why are we upset that the government might create a more limited database? The cows are long since out of the barn on "don't collect a giant database of everyone's personal information"