{"id":566228,"date":"2026-05-04T20:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/566228\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T20:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:00:10","slug":"eff-submission-to-uk-consultation-on-digital-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/566228\/","title":{"rendered":"EFF Submission to UK Consultation on Digital ID"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last September, the United Kingdom\u2019s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced<\/a> plans to introduce a new digital ID scheme in the country. The scheme aims to make it easier for people to prove their identities by creating a virtual ID on personal devices with information like names, date of birth, nationality or residency status, and a photo to verify their right to live and work in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, EFF has joined UK-based civil society organizations in urging the government to reconsider this proposal. In one joint letter from December, ahead of Parliament\u2019s debate around a petition<\/a> signed by 2.9 million people calling for an end to the government\u2019s plans<\/a> to roll out a national digital ID, EFF and 12 other civil society organizations wrote to politicians<\/a> in the country urging MPs to reject the Labour government\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, politicians have continued to explore ways to build out a digital ID system in the country, often fluctuating<\/a> between different ideas and conceptualisations for such a scheme. In their search for clarity, the government launched a consultation, \u2018Making public services work for you with your digital identity,\u2019<\/a> seeking views on a proposed national digital ID system in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EFF submitted comments<\/a> to this consultation, focusing on six interconnected issues:<\/p>\n

Mission creep
\nInfringements on privacy rights\u00a0
\nSerious security risks
\nReliance on inaccurate and unproven technologies
\nDiscrimination and exclusion
\nThe deepening of entrenched power imbalances between the state and the public.<\/p>\n

Even the strongest recommended safeguards cannot resolve these issues, and the fundamental core problem<\/a> that a mandatory digital ID scheme that shifts power dramatically away from individuals and toward the state. They are pursued as a technological solution to offline problems but instead allow the state to determine what you can access, not just verify who you are, by functioning as a key to opening\u2014or closing\u2014doors to essential services and experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No one should be coerced\u2014technically or socially\u2014into a digital system in order to participate fully in public life. It is essential that the UK government listen to people<\/a> in the country and say no to digital ID.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read our submission in full here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last September, the United Kingdom\u2019s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to introduce a new digital ID scheme…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-566228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}