Digital ID, A Tool To Control Thee?

This week, once again, Tony Blair has been bleating on about ID cards

Joining Darren Grimes to discuss is James Woudhuysen, Visiting Professor of Forecasting and Innovation at London Southbank University, a specialist in IT, Energy and Asia.

Earlier this week, Tony Blair teamed up with the bloke that used to spar with him at the dispatch box, William Hague, to make the case once more for Digital IDs. The pair produced a paper together via Blair’s Institute for Global Change, entitled ‘A New National Purpose: Innovation Can Power the Future of Britain’. One of the flagship proposals is the idea that our smartphones should contain a designed ‘digital ID’.

Arguing in an age of the on-demand economy in which you can find a date, order dinner or scroll through Twitter getting yourself wound up by bad opinions, digital ID would make life easier for everyday public services, with your passport, driving licence, tax records and qualifications all held on your phone.

Here, in conversation with Darren Grimes, James answers some of the points Blair and Hague use to justify the Digital IDs proposal.