By Asif Ghazali, Editor-in-Chief
There’s something deliciously ironic about launching Britain’s first digital ID cards at the Tower of London – a fortress that once held prisoners of the state now playing host to the state’s newest exercise in citizen surveillance. Or is it citizen service? That’s the billion-pound question, isn’t it?
As I write this, the UK government has just rolled out digital veteran ID cards, with promises that by the end of 2027, your passport, driving licence, national insurance card, and virtually every other form of government identification will live comfortably in your smartphone. No more rummaging through drawers, no more panicked searches before holidays, no more crumpled documents stuffed in forgotten wallets.
Minister Ian Murray paints a seductive picture: imagine never having to repeatedly fill out forms with the same tedious information. Just scan, verify, done. It’s the kind of frictionless future we’ve been promised by Silicon Valley for years. And truthfully? It sounds rather appealing.
The technology itself appears sound. Built on secure, federated architecture similar to what protects your payment cards, each department maintains its own data vault. The Ministry of Defence keeps veteran records, DVLA holds driving data, the passport office guards travel documents. There’s no single honey pot for hackers to raid – at least, that’s the theory.
But here’s where the story takes a darker turn, and where my journalist’s instinct starts twitching uncomfortably.
THE MANDATORY QUESTION
Last month’s announcement about “mandatory” digital ID for right-to-work checks sent shockwaves through the body politic. Suddenly, this isn’t about convenience anymore – it’s about compulsion. And that changes everything.
Minister Murray insists it’s perfectly reasonable because proving your right to work is already mandatory. But that’s sophistry, and rather transparent sophistry at that. There’s a world of difference between presenting documents and being required to carry government-approved digital identification on a device that tracks your location, stores your communications, and knows more about you than your closest friends.
David Davis – never one to mince words – called it the power to “digitally strip citizens naked.” Hyperbole? Perhaps. But not without foundation.
THE QUESTION OF TRUST
Here’s what troubles me most: If this digital ID system is truly the transformative, beneficial innovation the government claims, why mandate it? Why not let the benefits speak for themselves? When contactless payment was introduced, nobody forced us to use it. We adopted it because it genuinely made life easier.
The fact that government feels compelled to mandate digital ID for employment checks suggests they know voluntary uptake would be insufficient. And that should give us all pause.
Yes, the current plan promises this is the “only mandatory use case.” Yes, they suggest the digital ID could even be deleted after employment verification. But once this infrastructure exists, once this precedent is set, what’s to stop this government – or more worryingly, a future one – from expanding its scope?
THE REAL COST OF CONVENIENCE
I’m not a Luddite. I run a technology magazine, for heaven’s sake. I understand the appeal of digital transformation. But I also understand that convenience and freedom often sit on opposite ends of a seesaw. Every time we gain a little of one, we risk losing a bit of the other.
The polling data speaks volumes: opposition is strongest among Conservative and Reform voters – the very people the government is trying to win over on immigration. That’s not coincidence. It’s a warning signal that perhaps this policy doesn’t just solve a problem; it creates new ones.
LOOKING FORWARD
So where does this leave us? The digital veteran cards launched today represent either the first step toward a more efficient, modern state, or the opening move in a slow march toward comprehensive digital surveillance. Perhaps both.
What’s certain is that once we cross this threshold, there’s no going back. Data, once digitized and centralized (even in federated form), becomes infinitely more vulnerable, more accessible, more exploitable than paper ever was.
The government speaks of putting “power of the data in the hands of the citizen.” But power over data and power over citizens are two very different things. And I fear we’re being asked to embrace the former while quietly surrendering the latter.
As technology journalists and citizens, our job is to remain skeptical, to ask uncomfortable questions, and to refuse to be dazzled by the shiny promise of progress without examining its shadow costs.
The digital ID revolution is here. Whether it’s a revolution for us or against us remains to be seen.
Watch this space.
Asif Ghazali is Editor-in-Chief of Tab2Mag, where he has covered technology policy and digital transformation for over a decade.
