Scotland’s new digital ID programme will collect swathes of private information on individuals – tracking everything from travel, health and access to benefits. Such a system, allegedly designed to tackle fraud and streamline access to public services, presents a serious danger to individual security and privacy, as advocacy groups warn.
Madeleine Stone of Big Brother Watch said:
“Digital identity systems are a honeypot for criminals and hackers. These plans could give the Scottish government free rein to build huge population wide-datasets and to share the personal information of millions of users between government departments.
“We urgently need a legal right to non-digital ID, otherwise such schemes could become a mandatory ID system in all but name, disadvantaging the millions of people in this country who rely on physical documents and letters, and cannot or choose not to use digital identity systems.”
Daily Mail – New ‘digital ID’ sparks fears of ‘Big Brother’ privacy threat