Tag: digital id

China’s New Internet ID Prompts Fears of Total Digital Surveillance and Control

Starting July 15, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will launch a sweeping new Internet ID system, raising concerns that the initiative could usher in a new era of surveillance and control over the digital lives of more than a billion people.

The new program, introduced by six major government departments including the CCP’s Ministry of Public Security and China’s top internet regulator, will require users to register with their real names and obtain a state-issued “internet number” and “internet certificate.” These digital IDs will be used to access any online platform that requires real-name authentication, potentially including everything from social media to health records, education portals, and government services.

While the Chinese regime insists that participation is voluntary, critics warn that the system is designed for gradual enforcement as the regime seeks to centralize control and surveillance of internet users in China.

“This is clearly a staged rollout of a comprehensive surveillance apparatus,” Cao Lei, an independent Chinese internet data analyst, told The Epoch Times.

The CCP’s state-run media announced the new system in May and promoted the Internet ID as a means to “safeguard personal information” and streamline government regulation and verification. To apply for an Internet ID, users must submit official ID documents such as a Chinese Resident Identity Card, a passport, or a Mainland Residence Permit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents. Facial recognition and mobile phone verification are also required in the process. Even minors are encouraged to register, with their guardians providing identification on their behalf.

At the moment, the system is already integrated into more than 400 apps, spanning e-commerce, health care, tourism, education, and public services.

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Australia Orders Search Engines to Enforce Digital ID Age Checks

Australia has moved to tighten control over the digital environment with the introduction of three new online safety codes, measures that raise pressing privacy and censorship concerns.

These codes, formalized on June 27 under the Online Safety Act, go beyond introducing digital ID checks for adult websites; they also place substantial obligations on tech companies, from search engines and internet service providers (ISPs) to hosting platforms.

Businesses that fail to comply face the threat of significant financial penalties, with fines reaching as high as 49.5 million Australian dollars, or about $32.5 million US.

The codes seek to restrict Australian users’ exposure to material classified under two categories: Class 1C and Class 2.

Class 1C encompasses “online pornography – material that describes or depicts specific fetish practices or fantasies.”

Class 2 covers a broader range of content, from “online pornography – other sexually explicit material that depicts actual (not simulated) sex between consenting adults” (Class 2A), to “online pornography – material which includes realistically simulated sexual activity between adults. Material which includes high-impact nudity” or “other high-impact material which includes high-impact sex, nudity, violence, drug use, language and themes. ‘Themes’ includes social Issues such as crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependency, death, serious illness, family breakdown, and racism” (Class 2B).

Schedule 1 – Hosting Services Online Safety Code, companies that provide hosting services within Australia, including social media platforms and web hosts, are compelled to implement six compliance measures.

A core requirement obliges these services to manage the risks posed by significant changes to their platforms that could make Class 1C or Class 2 material more accessible to Australian children.

Schedule 2 – Internet Carriage Services Online Safety Code targets ISPs. It mandates the provision of filtering tools and safety guidance to users and empowers the eSafety Commissioner to order the blocking of material deemed to promote or depict abhorrent violent conduct.

The Commissioner has previously exercised similar powers, as in the directive to block footage of a stabbing circulated on X.

Schedule 3 – Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code directs search engine providers to roll out age verification for account creation within six months.

These platforms are also instructed to develop systems capable of detecting and filtering out online pornography and violent material by default, where technically feasible and practicable.

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Supreme Court Greenlights Online Digital ID Checks

With a landmark ruling that could shape online content regulation for years to come, the US Supreme Court has upheld Texas’s digital ID age-verification law for adult websites and platforms, asserting that the measure lawfully balances the state’s interest in protecting minors with the free speech rights of adults.

The 6-3 decision, issued on June 27, 2025, affirms the constitutionality of House Bill 1181, a statute that requires adult websites to verify the age of users before granting access to sexually explicit material.

Laws like House Bill 1181, framed as necessary safeguards for children, are quietly eroding the rights of adults to access lawful content or speak freely online without fear of surveillance or exposure.

Under such laws, anyone seeking to view legal adult material online (and eventually even those who want to access social media platforms because may contain content “harmful” to minors) is forced to provide official identification, often a government-issued digital ID or even biometric data, to prove their age.

Supporters claim this is a small price to pay to shield minors from harmful content. Yet these measures create permanent records linking individuals to their browsing choices, exposing them to unprecedented risks.

We obtained a copy of the opinion for you here.

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France Pushes Digital ID Check Laws For Platforms Like Reddit and Bluesky

Efforts by the French government to combat online access to pornography are quickly turning into a broader push to dismantle online anonymity, raising significant alarm among privacy advocates.

Authorities are now considering applying harsh age-verification mandates not just to explicit sites, but also to social networks like Reddit, Mastodon, and Bluesky, platforms where adult content may appear but where identity is not typically tethered to real-world credentials.

The shift doesn’t involve new legislation, but a reinterpretation of existing laws under France’s recently enacted regulations. This would allow the state to brand platforms that “enable the sharing of pornographic content” as porn sites, subjecting them to some of the most invasive digital ID checks yet proposed in the EU.

Digital Minister Clara Chappaz’s office stated, “Our focus is age verification for any platform that distributes or enables the sharing of pornographic content.”

Though framed as a move to protect children, the implications extend well beyond youth safety. Any service caught in this net would be forced to track the age, and by extension, the identity, of its users, undermining pseudonymity and threatening to make anonymous online activity impossible in practice.

The government’s renewed urgency follows the tragic killing of a teaching assistant in a high school, which President Emmanuel Macron used to reemphasize his call to ban social media for users under 15. While unrelated to pornography, the incident is being used to justify sweeping controls over digital spaces.

Platforms that fail to comply with the new age-check rules risk being fined, blacklisted by search engines, or even blocked entirely. Chappaz recently signaled that Elon Musk’s X is close to being designated as a pornographic platform, despite its primary function as a text-based social media site, highlighting how blurry and expansive the government’s definitions have become.

However, the legal path is anything but clear. Under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), decisions over “Very Large Online Platforms” rest with the European Commission, not individual member states.

These platforms are expected to assess and mitigate risks, including those tied to adult content, but retain discretion on how to do so. A legal review in France is reportedly underway, signaling the state’s intent to push this policy despite potential conflicts with EU law.

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BritCard: Inside Labour’s “Progressive” Digital ID

A new report from a British government think tank offers some clear insights into the Starmer administration’s plan to introduce a universal digital ID.

That digital ID – in one form or another – is a major part of the endgame is not any kind of revelation. We’ve known that was the plan for years, but the report tells us quite a lot about how it’s going to be sold to the public.

I guess we should go ahead and dive in.

The Thinktank

The report was published just this week by Labour Together – formerly “The Common Good” – a thinktank founded in “Labour’s wilderness years” to help “make Labour electable again”, according to their about page.

Translation: They’re centrist globalist Blairite shills who helped undermine and destroy the only vaguely genuine movement in the last 50 years of British “democracy” and now publish reports to push a globalist agenda.

According to the Electoral Commission, they received over £ 9 million in donations last year (from only 234 donors), much of which seems to have been “donated” by Labour Together Limited, a for-profit company. The murky world of Westminster finances is not my focus, however, and I’m sure it’s at least passably legal and no more corrupt than is standard practice in those circles.

Exactly how a think tank with eighteen employees, ten advisors, four policy fellows and five board members manages to spend 9 million pounds writing a newsletter a week, a report every two months and doing some online polls I have no idea.

It’s a good question for another time, perhaps. For now, we know everything we need to know – Labour Together are old-fashioned New Labour types shilling for globalist tyranny.

The Authors

We won’t talk long about the authors, because there’s not much point. They’re names on a title a page, and while I’m sure they believe in the words they write (or at least, asked ChatGPT to write), it’s also true their job requires they believe it.

I just wanted to point out that the three supposed authors of this work on technology have no tech backgrounds at all. The closest any of them comes is Laurel Boxall, the “about the authors” section of the report proudly declares she has a Masters from Cambridge “focusing on AI”, but a bit a of digging reveals it’s a Masters in “Digital Humanities” with a focus on fictional portrayals of AI in media. Apparently, that qualifies you to become a “tech policy advisor”.

Which is interesting, because it demonstrates that they consider fictional portrayals of AI to be as relevant to this work as real AI experience. An apposite commentary on the state of society in general.

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European Union Unveils International Strategy Pushing Digital ID Systems and Online Censorship

As part of a broader campaign to expand its global influence in the digital era, the European Union has introduced a sweeping International Digital Strategy that leans heavily on centralized infrastructure, digital identity systems, and regulatory frameworks that raise significant questions about online freedoms and privacy.

The European Commission, in announcing the initiative, stressed its intent to collaborate with foreign governments on a range of areas, prominently featuring digital identity systems and what it calls “Digital Public Infrastructure.”

These frameworks, which have garnered widespread support from transnational institutions such as the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, are being marketed as tools to streamline cross-border commerce and improve mobility.

However, for privacy advocates, the strategy raises red flags due to its promotion of interoperable digital ID programs and a surveillance-oriented model of governance under the guise of efficiency.

According to the strategy documents, one of the EU’s objectives is to drive mutual recognition of electronic trust services, including digital IDs, across partner nations such as Ukraine, Moldova, and several Balkan and Latin American countries. This aligns with the EU’s ambitions to propagate its model of the Digital Identity Wallet, an initiative that privacy campaigners warn could entrench government control over personal data.

The strategy also outlines measures to deepen cooperation on global digital regulation, including laws that govern online speech.

While framed as promoting “freedom of expression, democracy, and citizens’ privacy,” these efforts are closely tied to the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates extensive platform compliance and systemic risk monitoring.

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Mass immigration is being used to roll out the Globalists’ agenda, including digital IDs

The British Labour government is facing backlash after nearly 1,200 migrants crossed the English Channel in a single day, prompting ministers to propose linking immigration enforcement to a new digital ID system instead of delivering immediate border control reforms.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper unveiled plans to tie e-visas to digital IDs, allowing authorities to track people’s movements in and out of the UK and identify overstayers for enforcement.

Central to the initiative is the Gov.uk Wallet, a digital identity app launching this summer, which will consolidate state-issued credentials like driving licenses and veteran cards into a single platform by 2027.

Privacy advocates and commentators argue that the government is using the immigration crisis as cover to normalise a centralised surveillance infrastructure with long-term implications for civil liberties.

Previously, Heritage Party leader David Kurten had likened the digital ID push to the incremental expansion of covid-19 vaccine passports, warning that systems presented as voluntary often become essential for full participation in society.

The above is a summary of an article published by Natural News yesterday.  You can read the full article HERE.

Natural News was referring to a video Kurten shared last year.  He posted the video (below) on Twitter (now X) with the comment: “Digital danger: Digital ID is now being planned for 2025 by the UK government with its Data (Use and Access) Bill, for access to pubs, clubs, restaurants, shops, opening bank accounts and using government services. They can stick their Digital ID where the Sun doesn’t shine.”

At the time Kurten made this video, the Data (Use and Access) Bill was making its way through the House of Lords, where it originated. The Bill, introduced to Parliament on 23 October 2024, has now been passed by both the House of Lords and the House of Commons and is at the final stages – the Commons amendments are currently being considered – before it is passed onto King Charles for Royal Assent.

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No Phone Home Is the Privacy Rebellion Digital IDs Didn’t See Coming

Welcome to a new privacy-first initiative challenging the digital identity status quo, urging a sharp turn away from the surveillance-ready infrastructure embedded in mobile driver’s licenses.

The campaign, called No Phone Home, brings together a broad alliance of civil liberties groups, privacy experts, technologists, lawmakers, and public officials who are resisting the ways digital IDs compromise people’s rights.

What’s fueling the campaign is concern over how mobile driver’s licenses, increasingly adopted in the US and abroad, are built atop a technical framework that allows them to silently transmit data back to issuing authorities. While this function may not be active by default, it exists; and that, privacy advocates argue, is a serious vulnerability.

Even if unused, if the architecture allows for data to be sent back to government servers, it eventually will be the campaign’s statement warns.

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Pakistan Uses Geofencing to Track, Disable Digital IDs of Protesters

Pakistani authorities have moved to disable the national ID and passports of individuals linked to the unrest that unfolded on May 9, 2023, turning to geo-fencing technology to track the presence of mobile devices near demonstration sites.

The protesters were protesting the arrest of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan.

The tactic draws on the country’s highly centralized digital identity infrastructure, which is managed by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

Following a wave of civil disorder earlier in the year, the state has turned its attention to restricting those it believes were involved, though officials have not released exact figures.

The action adds a new layer to NADRA’s already significant role in overseeing identification and mobility in Pakistan. The agency had previously played a key part in enforcing nationwide SIM registration by linking phone access to verified ID credentials.

The main aspect of the current operation is the use of geofencing, a surveillance method that defines virtual boundaries around locations and tracks which mobile devices enter those areas.

By analyzing mobile network signals, authorities are able to determine who was present near protest hotspots during specific periods and take action accordingly. The approach allows for highly targeted enforcement, based on digital footprints rather than conventional investigative methods.

This use of data to restrict identity documents marks a profound escalation in how digital ID systems are being weaponized.

In Pakistan, ID cards and passports are essential for almost every aspect of life; banking, public services, travel, and even mobile phone use. Withholding these documents amounts to cutting individuals off from full participation in society.

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Texas Mandates Digital ID To Access App Store Apps

Texas has moved to the forefront of a national campaign to regulate children’s access to digital platforms by mandating that Apple and Google verify the ages of all users on their app stores.

Under a new law signed by Governor Greg Abbott, set to take effect January 1, 2026, those under 18 will be required to obtain parental consent before downloading apps or making in-app purchases. The measure has been pitched as a way to protect minors, but privacy advocates warn it could come at the expense of everyone’s digital freedom.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

The requirement places app store operators in the role of gatekeepers, forcing them to gather and store sensitive personal information to determine user ages.

Opponents argue that such age checks do not just affect young users, (explicit adult content apps are already banned from app stores) and they also undermine anonymity online by tying a person’s digital presence to a verified real-world identity. That level of surveillance risks chilling free expression and stifling dissent by making it harder for people to speak or access information without fear of being identified.

Efforts to regulate youth access to apps and online services are gaining traction elsewhere as well. Utah enacted a similar policy earlier this year, and Congress is weighing federal legislation. Texas lawmakers are also advancing a separate bill that would prohibit users under 18 from accessing social media altogether.

While the law does state that app developers should delete the personal data provided by the app store provider, the wider problem is that users will have to trust that an app developer will actually do so. App store providers such as Apple and Google will have to retain sensitive data on its users.

Supporters of the Texas law argue that app stores are uniquely positioned to serve as the central checkpoint for age validation. Meta, Snap, and X have praised the move.

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