A Dystopian Future

While on holiday, my sister messaged me to tell me that this pub had changed its name from the James Atherton to the George Orwell, in protest at Kier Starmer’s plan to introduce digital ID cards for UK citizens. See this article on the BBC website (note, the pub is in New Brighton and not Wallasey, well done BBC).

It seems that when Kier Starmer got into power, one of the things he said he would never do is introduce digital IDs. He’s now reversed that position. Yet another Labour U-turn. There was no mention of it in their election manifesto. It would seem he’s not even bothering to wait for the findings of the parliamentary Home Affairs Committee’s ongoing enquiry into digital ID systems.

It looks like it’s going to be voluntary unless you’re looking for work or working. For me it’s voluntary as I’m retired and not looking for work. For working people (the majority) and children (most will go into paid employment), it will be mandatory.

Big Brother Watch has posted this article on its website, explaining the issues and potential problems with digital IDs.

Immigration and Employment Fraud

He’s hoping the digital ID will deter illegal immigration and employment fraud. Not convinced. We already have laws that say it is illegal to employ people who are not UK citizens. Some employers ignore this, the same employers will almost certainly ignore this new digital ID. I don’t think it’ll deter the boat people.

A Honeypot for Hackers

We have identity theft in this country, but the thief needs to get a lot of information about you, from multiple sources. With a digital ID all that information is in one place. The digital ID database will be a honeypot for hackers, both criminal and nation state.

The government is telling us that Estonia’s system is a good one. Back in 2021 a hacker managed to steal just over 286,000 photos from their database!

Mission Creep

At first the government is just trying to stop illegal immigration and employment fraud.

But once the system has been set up it can be used for other things. Walking along the street a policeman stops you, ‘papers please’. I think I read somewhere that they might want details of our bank accounts, I’m almost certain I was mistaken (I probably read it in a tabloid newspaper). But, in the future, who knows.

They say you won’t need it when claiming welfare. I doubt that will last long.

The French have an ID card, apparently its voluntary. The only problem is that you cannot exist in the country without one. To open a bank account, you need an ID card! That will happen here, you won’t be able to live without one. It’ll become mandatory by the back door.

Over time the digital ID will be used to control us in more and more ways, mission creep.

Facial Recognition

Just before writing this, I got an email from Big Brother Watch about the police use of facial recognition. Up until now, facial recognition cameras were not in fixed locations. It looks like the police are now starting to install them in fixed locations. You can view the email I received here.

This is scary, especially when coupled with a digital ID.

Pay Per Mile Car Tax

I read somewhere that the government is looking at us paying car tax based on the number of miles we drive. This will probably result in another database of information about us. The database might not exist at first, but the systems required to collect the data will be in place, making it easy to create.

The police already have the ANPR system to tell them where we are driving.

Oyster Cards

In London and various other towns and cities you can pay for a ride on public transport with your credit card. Swiping the card at the start and end of the journey, letting a computer determine its cost. I read somewhere, that the government wants to extend this to our railways. Again, the systems required to collect the information about our travels will be there, creating a database is easy.

A database of oyster card and pay per mile car tax information tells the government how we are moving around the country. Add facial recognition cameras everywhere and the government will know where we are, in real time.

The question is, can such a database be created. It will need a lot of computer power.

Computers

Moors law is an observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years (computers double in power every two years). No one really knows when this law will stop applying, some say it has already, some say it has not. However, chip developers are starting to find other ways of increasing the power of our computers.

When I became aware of computers back in 1979, they were not very powerful. Doubling the power resulted in a computer that was still not very powerful. Computers these days are incredibly powerful, doubling the power massively increases it.

We also have the prospect of quantum computers, computers that will make our current computers, look slow and historic.

Machine Learning

It’s not AI, it’s machine learning. It’s getting very clever but has a long way to go. I don’t want to think about how machine learning could be involved in a dystopian future.

President Trump

No one thought the Americans would get a president like him. It’s easy to say it will never happen here. It was never supposed to happen there. That’s the big problem, what happens in the future.

Dystopian TV Drama

Years ago, there was a dystopian TV drama where the state was monitoring its people using cameras installed at places such as railway stations. To catch a train, your face was scanned at the barrier to identify you. You had to have permission to travel, which could be easily denied by the government. It might not happen, but it looks like our government is starting to build the systems that could enable it. A big step in that direction is creating a digital ID to identify us all.

The drama was called The Last Enemy. It stared Benedict Cumberbatch and was excellent. It’s about time they showed it again.

This all needs to be stopped.