The Government is considering giving UK residents a digital ID card under the premise of stopping illegal immigration. But a new report by Big Brother Watch that includes YouGov polling warns that such a system would risk a ‘checkpoint Britain’ and usher in a new era of mass surveillance.
Rebecca Vincent, Big Brother Watch’s Interim Director said: “The notion that digital ID will provide a magic-bullet solution for unauthorised immigration is ludicrous. It will not stop small boat crossings, and it will not deter those intent on using non-legal means of entering the country from doing so. But digital ID will create a huge burden for the largely law-abiding 60 million people who already live here and insert the state into many aspects of our everyday lives.”
“The British people have a long and proud history of rejecting mandatory ID, and we shoud reject this one too. The stakes for our privacy rights have never been higher.”
Independent YouGov polling commissioned by the organisation reveals that a majority (63%) of Brits do not trust the government to keep their digital ID data secure.
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