Britain is sleepwalking into a surveillance nightmare.
The Government is pressing ahead with a new digital ID scheme dubbed the ‘BritCard’ – a move critics warn could usher in unprecedented state surveillance. The BritCard would move away from physical ID and replace it with a phone app instead. Sold to the public as a “modern convenience” to simplify everything from renting a flat to proving your right to work, critics argue that the BritCard could enable population-wide tracking, predict and shape our decisions, and even be weaponised against minority groups. Already, proposals are circulating to make BritCard mandatory for employment checks, renting and banking.
“A centralised digital ID scheme would be a honeypot for hackers and foreign adversaries, creating huge digital security risks for our data… It’ll bring in a totalitarian tyranny so 100% complete that it would make George Orwell’s 1984 look like a picnic” (Big Brother Watch)
Celebrity psychologist and cultural commentator Jordan Peterson, in a video posted on X, noted what a digital ID society can look like, because China has paved the way with its ‘social credit’ system: “If a traffic camera catches you jaywalking in China… the digital ID system… will convict you of jaywalking… take money out of your bank account… and reduce your social credit score.” He believes mandatory digital ID will “bring in a totalitarian tyranny so 100 per cent complete that it would make George Orwell’s 1984 look like a picnic.”
The UK civil liberties campaign group, Big Brother Watch, is campaigning against what it calls “Checkpoint Britain”. Its Interim Director, Rebecca Vincent, said in an email to supporters: “It is inconsistent with the values that underpin a free society and poses serious risks to privacy, security and equality. A centralised digital ID scheme would also be a honeypot for hackers and foreign adversaries, creating huge digital security risks for our data.”
In addition, digital ID will further alienate those without online access: “People in marginalised, vulnerable and minority groups are more likely to have reduced access to online services (eg people with disabilities, low income or the elderly), particularly where digital identity is a requirement.” (Photo – Rebecca Vincent, interim Director of Big Brother Watch, who has launched a petition against the Britcard. Credit, Big Brother Watch)
There is also no democratic mandate for an ID scheme as it did not appear in the Labour Party manifesto. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer recently told the Cabinet and the media that he is considering mandatory digital ID, and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has expressed her support.
Big Brother Watch commissioned independent polling through YouGov, which revealed that a majority of the British public – 63 per cent – do not trust the Government to protect the vast amounts of personal information collected in a digital ID scheme. Both The Times and Politico featured the findings; Rebecca Vincent adds, “The polling also shows that cyber attacks and privacy erosion are the top concerns associated with mandatory digital ID.”
The Government suggests that the ‘Britcard’ would help reduce illegal immigration, yet Big Brother Watch says: “There is little evidence to prove that a digital ID system would deter illegal immigration”. Moreover, it has been suggested that migration is being used as an excuse to bring in digital ID. The scientist and health author Cummins posted: “The migration crisis is part of a century-old globalist strategy to erode national sovereignty, whereby governments intentionally leverage public anger as a pretext for imposing totalitarian control, including the roll-out of digital ID”. Big Brother Watch has organised a petition against digital ID which, as we go to press, had almost reached 100,000 signatures. (Photo – A mock-up of a ‘Britcard’ belonging to the Prime Minister features in Big Brother Watch’s privacy campaign. Credit, Big Brother Watch)
Big Brother Watch’s petition can be viewed at
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/reject-plans-for-a-mandatory-britcard-digital-id