Responding to news that the Prime Minister Keir Starmer will announce a mandatory digital ID scheme, Big Brother Watch Director Silkie Carlo said:
“Plans for a mandatory digital ID would make us all reliant on a digital pass to go about our daily lives, turning us into a checkpoint society that is wholly unBritish.
Digital IDs would do absolutely nothing to deter small boats but would make Britain less free, creating a domestic mass surveillance infrastructure that will likely sprawl from citizenship to benefits, tax, health, possibly even internet data and more. Incredibly sensitive information about each and every one of us would be hoarded by the state and vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Starmer has no mandate to force the population to carry digital IDs and millions of us will simply not do it. The cost to the public purse will likely run into the billions, much like Blair’s failed scheme, but the cost to our freedoms would be even more serious. He is making an enormous mistake and should drop the plans sooner rather than later.”
- Spokespeople are available for interview. Please direct enquiries or requests for interviews to info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk or 07730439257
-
More detail on Big Brother Watch’s work on digital ID is available on our website
-
Read Big Brother Watch’s recent report on digital ID, Checkpoint Britain: The dangers of digital ID and why privacy must be protected.
-
Digital ID is the focus of Big Brother Watch’s events during the Labour and Conservative conferences. If you would like to attend, please email Big Brother Watch Advocacy Manager Matthew Feeney at matthew.feeney@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk.”