Digital Identification: Convenience or Government Surveillance Nightmare?
Australia’s government is embarking on a new era of digital identification with the development of the “Trust Exchange” (TEx) system. Bill Shorten, the country’s Minister for Government Services, announced that the system would be “world-leading.”
Tex aims to provide people with secure ways to verify their identities in the digital realm. It’s a technology that several prominent figures have championed with the growing presence of the internet in everyday life.
However, there are plenty of concerns over the use of digital identification. Data breaches, government surveillance, and overall threats to privacy are concerns that several people have raised about these systems.
Digital ID is intended to be a representation of who you are online. It contains vital information about the individual, such as browsing data, medical history, account names, and more.
The ID could include everything from your social media profiles to your banking information. It creates a multi-layered identity that can be used on various platforms. The supposed benefit is that it will streamline interactions with online services, enabling users to prove their identity without repeatedly sharing sensitive information across these platforms.
Australia’s system is intended to make it easier for citizens to access government and business services while exerting more control over their sensitive information, according to The Conversation.
The Trust Exchange system is related to two other existing government systems: MyGov and MyGovID.
MyGov is the central online portal for accessing Australian government services. It includes the MyGov mobile phone app, which has a wallet feature allowing people to show digital versions of their Centrelink concession or Medicare cards.
MyGovID is the government’s current online digital identity system. It allows you to prove who you are to several online services, including MyGov and a range of other government organisations and agencies. You can, for example, log in to MyGov online using your MyGovID.
The new Trust Exchange system is designed to give people much greater control over what personal digital information they share with organisations.
At present, you can show your digital driver’s license if you are requested to prove your identity when entering a sports club. However, that requires you to share not only your age but also your name and street address with club staff.
The new system would allow you to prove that you are over 18 by using your mobile phone, without having to share any other information about yourself.
If successful, the new system could reduce the need for companies to collect and store so much sensitive identity information about their customers.
Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist, has been one of several high-profile individuals pushing for digital IDs in the United States and across the globe. He has been advocating for these systems as a solution to address misinformation and disinformation being spread on social media, according to The Blaze.
Gates suggested that in the future, online environments could require users to be “truly identified,” implying that true anonymity would become a thing of the past – or at least severely limited.
Even more scary is Gates’ comments during an interview with CNET in which he said there would be “systems and behaviors” in place to expose those creating content with supposed misinformation.
“The U.S. is a tough one because you know we have the notion of the First Amendment, and so what are the exceptions you know, like yelling fire in a theater, and because you’re anonymous online, you know it can be worse. I do think over time, you know, with things like deep fakes, most of the time you’re online, you’re going to want to be in an environment where people are truly identified, that is, they’re connected to a real-world identity that you trust instead of just people saying whatever they want and so the idea of … we’re going to have to have systems and behaviors that we more aware of okay ‘who says that? Who created this?’”
Gates’ push for digital identification aligns with his broader efforts to impose a global digital infrastructure. He has funded initiatives like the United Nation’s 50-in-5 Campaign, which aims to introduce digital ID systems worldwide.
Proponents of digital IDs would argue that they offer greater security, convenience, and efficiency. It is a means of reducing identity theft and safeguarding users when they are making purchases online. Even further, they can eliminate the annoying need to repeatedly enter personal information on various platforms, addressing what is referred to as “password fatigue.”
Another benefit is that these systems could promote financial inclusion and access to services for the 1.1 billion people across the world who do not possess formal identification, according to the World Economic Forum.
Digital identity and access systems can unlock a range of basic and empowering services for individuals, including financial inclusion, healthcare and education. Equally, they hold significant promise for helping refugees and displaced populations to access immediate and longer-term services.
Nevertheless, it does not take a tinfoil hat to recognize the inherent risks of these systems – especially if governments are the ones initiating them. Several entities and individuals have highlighted the problems with digital identification. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) discussed some of the issues with imposing these systems.
“A poorly constructed digital identity system could be a privacy nightmare,” the organization argued, also pointing out that “Without good privacy protections, digital IDs could also enable centralized tracking of every place … that we present our ID.”
The Conversation’s Toby Murray expressed concerns about whether the systems could or would log each interaction and transaction on digital platforms, such as proving one’s age for alcohol purchases. “Will the government have access to that information? And if so, what will that information be used for?” he asked.
The advent of this technology is certainly a scary concept – especially for those who do not trust the government. We have already seen that our politicians and officials are more than willing to violate our privacy rights if they deem it necessary. A digital ID system could make it much easier to do this.
However, it appears such a system is inevitable. At some point, the technology will become so ubiquitous that it will be difficult to live without one. Hopefully, there will be enough people making noise about the problems to ensure that there are adequate security measures to protect our rights in the process.
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