The British government Friday announced plans to issue digital IDs for workers, part of what it said was an effort to curb illegal migration.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the center-left Labour Party, said the program, called BritCard, would help secure Britain’s borders and deter migrants from coming to the country illegally to find work. Opponents say it will infringe on citizens’ right to privacy.
What are digital IDs?
Digital IDs are a form of identification that lives on a phone or computer, rather than as a card in a wallet. In Britain, digital IDs would carry much the same information as a traditional card or paper ID would, such as a person’s name, date and place of birth, and a photograph, the government said.
The digital card could be stored on a smartphone. The National Health Service in Britain already uses a similar program.
Just how the ID system would work has not yet been finalized. It will be debated in public forums and could be introduced over the next few years, the government said.
Will they be mandatory?
The digital ID would be a mandatory proof that a person has the right to work in Britain, Starmer said.
“You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID,” Starmer said in a televised address. “It’s as simple as that.”
The new system would be more secure than current forms of ID, such as a passport, the government said in a statement, making it harder to hire workers who are in the country illegally. It would make it easier for employers and other officials to check the legal status of foreign nationals applying for a job, the government said.
“It will send a clear message that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to work, deterring people from making these dangerous journeys,” the prime minister’s office said.
The digital system would also streamline identity checks, simplifying services like applying for child care and welfare, the government said.
The new system is also intended to reduce identity theft, the government said, using encryption and authentication to protect personal data.
Is there opposition to the digital IDs?
Polling suggests that a majority of people in Britain support the idea of a national ID system, with respondents favoring the concept of a single card that could function as an ID, passport, and driving license. But when asked in more detail about a digital ID, people voice concerns about data security and civil liberties.
The announcement has been met with opposition from several lawmakers across the political spectrum, with critics responding even before Starmer’s office had released more details about the plan.
A petition on the Parliament’s website calling on the government not to bring in digital IDs passed a million signatures on Friday.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, pointed out that digitized identity systems were already in use in banking and online services, but she said that her party was opposed to requiring such ID.
“We will not support any system that is mandatory for British people or excludes those of us who choose not to use it from any of the rights of our citizenship,” she wrote on social media.
Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform party, accused the government of overreach and questioned its ability to protect large troves of public data from hackers.
“It will make no difference to illegal immigration, but it will be used to control and penalise the rest of us,” he posted on social media.
The Open Rights Group, which campaigns for online safety, said the policy could be a slippery slope, creating a society “where we constantly have to prove who we are to go about our daily lives.”
What other countries use them?
In making its case, the government pointed to countries like Australia and Estonia as places that have adopted such a digital program.
In Australia, it said, people can access services such as banking and buy alcohol using their digital identification rather than using multiple separate accounts and documents.
India has also used a digital system in an effort to reduce fraud, and in Denmark, students use digital IDs, the British government noted.
But digital identification in different forms has also been used for surveillance: China introduced a digital ID card more than 20 years ago, and last year, Beijing went further by introducing an internet ID to track citizens’ online usage.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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