Responding to news that the government is on the verge of mandating digital ID for every adult in the UK, Interim Director of Big Brother Watch, Rebecca Vincent, said:
“We are alarmed by this escalation in the Government’s consideration of plans to roll out a mandatory digital ID. While Downing Street is scrambling to be seen as doing something about illegal immigration, we are sleepwalking into a dystopian nightmare where the entire population will be forced through myriad digital checkpoints to go about our everyday lives.
Mandatory digital ID is simply not the magic-bullet solution that is often promised to tackle illegal immigration or other societal issues. It will not stop small boat crossings, but it will create a burden on the already law-abiding population to prove our right to be here. It will turn Britain into a “Papers, please” society and fundamentally reverse the nature of our relationship with the state.
Nobody voted for this. We call again for Keir Starmer to scrap this ill-considered plan, and to go back to the drawing board to find solutions for illegal immigration that don’t erode the privacy rights of tens of millions of UK citizens and residents.”
NOTES
- Spokespeople are available for interview. Please direct enquiries or requests for interviews to info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk or 07730439257
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More detail on Big Brother Watch’s work on digital ID is available on our website
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Big Brother Watch will be publishing a report on digital ID later this month and will be hosting digital ID panels during the Labour, Liberal Democrats, and Conservative party conferences