(by Rhoda Wilson | The Exposé) – The UK government has launched a consultation “to support” digital identification and the sharing of personal data. They are not asking if the public is on board with their sinister plan. Nor does the Government’s “consultation” favor public debate on the issue. They are polling the public to gather support.
The list of government departments that would share your data under this proposed plan is extensive and, mind you, not exhaustive: the organizations that will have access to your data and, ultimately, control over your life , they will grow. Alarmingly, your data will also be shared with unknown private organizations that provide services to a public authority.
The consultation is open until 1 March 2023. Don’t buy their rigged survey, email the Government Data Sharing Legislation Team at dea-data-sharing@digital. cabinet-office.gov.uk and say ‘NO’.
On February 21, 1952, Winston Churchill’s government abandoned ID cards. Because? In his words, to “liberate the people”.
In 1950, Harry Willcock, a 54-year-old London dry cleaner, was stopped by a policeman who asked to see his ID. He refused, telling her simply, “I’m against that kind of thing.”
Willcock was prosecuted and the case reached the High Court in 1951. In judgment, Lord Chief Justice Goddard said that the 1939 Act “was never passed for the purposes for which it is now apparently used” and that using the law in this way “Tends to turn law-abiding subjects into law-breakers (…).
These words have a strange relevance for us today. All the words could be applied to the use of the Public Health Act 1984, under which anything from visiting our families to political leaflets is now considered a criminal act. History teaches us that emergency measures tend to be prolonged in duration and purpose, often to the disadvantage of citizens.
The UK rejected ID cards again after Prime Minister Tony Blair told us in the wake of 9/11 that we could not fight terrorism without them.
Government ID proposals have been periodically revived. During the covid era, the government has tried to reintroduce IDs in various forms, for example vaccine passports and track and trace apps. The government has also been quietly developing a “digital identity framework” so that, for example, we can use facial recognition apps connected to government-approved identity systems. There is also the “Electoral Integrity Act” to require voter identification. It is only a matter of time before all these demands for identity converge on a national identification system; this makes Mr. Willcock’s struggle against his paper ID card seem quaint. Read the full article >
