Tag: digital id

The US edges closes to passing digital ID legislation

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Committee has approved the Improving Digital Identity Act, a legal framework for digital ID systems for US citizens.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee already voted to pass the legislation in July.

The Improving Digital Identity Act is a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). It aims to create a public-private digital identity task force tasked with “improving” digital ID verification systems in government agencies.

The legislation would also allow the Department of Homeland Security to award grants for advancements to digital identity verification systems. Territorial, tribal, local, and state governments would be eligible to receive funding for the establishment of interoperable and secure digital ID systems.

The legislation would also require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to provide Congress with reports on the cost savings of the wide use of digital ID systems.

Critics of digital ID systems say such systems raise privacy concerns. Supporters of these systems argue that they will help prevent identity fraud and improve economic activity by providing secure online transactions.

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Governments Worldwide are Working in Lockstep to bring in Digital I.D. & Social Credit System as EU agrees to Expand Online Censorship with ‘Digital Services Act’

Under pressure applied by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the European Union is working to expand online censorship to an extreme Orwellian level, as well as strictly regulate speech during what authorities deem to be times of crisis (we always seem to be in the middle of a “crisis”), and remove online anonymity by forcing the public to have a digital identity.

But these plans aren’t unique to the EU. They are also currently being rolled out in the UK and Africa, proving Governments worldwide are working in lockstep to bring in a digital identity and social credit system right under your nose.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both lobbied for the EU to back the censorship bill known as the ‘Digital Services Act‘ on Thursday, April 21st, 2022.

From France 24, “EU agrees on new legislation to tame internet ‘Wild West’ “:

The Digital Services Act (DSA) — the second part of a massive project to regulate tech companies — aims to ensure tougher consequences for platforms and websites that host a long list of banned content ranging from hate speech to disinformation and child sexual abuse images.

[…] Tech giants have been repeatedly called out for failing to police their platforms — a New Zealand terrorist attack that was live-streamed on Facebook in 2019 caused global outrage, and the chaotic insurrection in the US last year was promoted online.

The dark side of the internet also includes e-commerce platforms filled with counterfeit or defective products.

[…] The regulation will require platforms to swiftly remove illegal content as soon as they are aware of its existence. Social networks would have to suspend users who frequently breach the law.

The DSA will force e-commerce sites to verify the identity of suppliers before proposing their products.

[…] The European Commission will oversee yearly audits [of Big Tech firms] and be able to impose fines of up to six percent of their annual sales for repeated infringements.

Looking over the outline of the new agreement it’s striking how they seamlessly conflate child sexual abuse material with “illegal hate speech.”

Both are jumbled together as “illegal content.”

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Criticism of Canada’s Digital ID is dismissed as based on “misinformation”

There is pushback in Canada against the introduction of digital ID programs – but proponents of these schemes are referring to criticism based on civil liberties and privacy concerns as, “digital ID misinformation.”

Reports to this effect are appearing, spurred by a petition launched by the Ontario Party, that calls for “zero tolerance” toward the implementation of such programs in the province.

At the same time, IdentityNORTH – which says it brings together Canadian and global leaders to discuss “the big ideas and innovations” driving digital transformation – was holding its spring workshop.

The petition, meanwhile, calls on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to prevent the planned introduction of a comprehensive Digital ID program, that would centralize citizens’ personal, financial, business, medical, and social information, and assign each an ID number.

In view of the fact that Canada’s central banks, and others around the world, plan to also introduce their own digital currencies, these would eventually also become part of digital IDs, the Ontario Party warned.

And that, in turn, spells trouble for civil liberties and privacy rights, creating “clear opportunities” for abuse by the authorities, the party believes.

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UK to launch new digital ID technology next month as part of nationwide digital ID push

The UK government is pushing ahead with its nationwide digital ID plans, despite half of the responses to its public consultation on digital identity opposing the idea.

On April 6, 2022, new digital identity document verification technology (IDVT) that enables data sharing between public bodies and businesses for the purpose of identity verification will be introduced. It will be made available to UK employers, landlords, and letting agents who can use it to digitally carry out pre-employment criminal record checks, right to work checks, and right to rent checks.

The introduction of this digital IDVT is part of the government’s far-reaching digital ID plans which were announced in March. The government has framed these digital ID plans as a way for UK citizens to “easily and quickly prove their identity using digital methods instead of having to rely on traditional physical documents.”

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