Statement On Digital IDs

We're all pretty clearly against digital ids over in the WhatsApp Community - so let's get the ball rolling and also test out another feature of the platform. This is a collaborative draft. You can add to it if you want. Right now I'm not actually adding anything to the proposed statement except this intro here - so feel free to get started below the asterisks! [John - 22:58 / 09.25] * * * Perhaps no policy declaration in living memory has so united the country in disdain for a Prime Minister in living memory: digital ids are being mooted by our not-particularly-benevolent rulers. This is a policy which successive governments have tested the waters on, but which there seems absolutely no appetite for. It won't surprise you to learn that the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change is BIG on digital IDs: their glossy website declares that this policy won't surveil you, but will instead keep you safe. From what? Well, quite. There's nothing a digital id can keep you safe from, but there's plenty of ways it can imperil you. The government doesn't exactly have the hottest track record on security - in 2023 the personal details of 10,000 Police Service of Northern Ireland officers were exposed, and government officials still occasionally pop up in the news for having left a folder or a phone or a laptop on a train. Do we want or need a central database so tempting and inviting just to find new ways to brutalise immigrants and benefits claimants - and enrich Tony Blair? It would appear from the reaction from the public that not even Reform voters think so.