A new bill introduced during the King’s Speech on Wednesday aims to establish a ‘Digital Verification Services’ platform that will allow for the creation and adoption of “secure and trusted digital identity products and services from certified providers”.
According to a published overview of the bill, it intends to “help with things like moving house, pre-employment checks, and buying age-restricted goods and services”.
The bill will ‘ensure your data is well protected”, said the government, while allowing for easier and smoother online transactions.
Specific details regarding how the data will be stored, shared and exploited were not given, although the overview stated that data will be shared “upon the customer’s (business or consumer) request, with authorised third-party providers (ATPs) who can enhance the customer data with broader, contextual ‘business’ data”.
The government will also move to an electronic system for the registration of births and deaths.
According to the government, the UK ‘data economy’ represents around 6.9% of annual gross domestic product, adding: “We can harness the power of data to create enormous value for our economy and broader society.”
Prior to the 4 July election, industry body techUK wrote to party leaders calling on them to commit to digital verification.
Co-signed by industry leaders including Steve Pannifer, managing director of Consult Hyperion, Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation and David Rennie, director of IDEMIA Smart Identity, techUK said:
“Digital Identity technology provides a secure method for individuals to verify their identity and authenticate themselves both in the physical and online worlds.
“The adoption and use of Digital ID could provide an additional £800 million to the UK economy every year.”
Concerns flagged
In a research and analysis piece into digital identity services conducted by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in February, members of the public voiced concerns over monetisation of their data and system overreach.
In its findings, DSIT concluded that: “Some participants are concerned that the trade-off for convenience is exposure to identity fraud and theft.
“They are fearful that large corporations and technology companies are not solely owned and run within the UK.
“This has the potential, in their view, to expose people to the risk of fraud and identity theft on a global scale across country borders.
“There is an additional fear that, through this global system, countries that wish to undermine geo-political systems will harvest data to gain information and influence change.”
Other contributors raised concerns that although digital identity services are marketed as optional, they will become mandatory over time.
DSIT stated: “Participants were told and understood that there is no intention within the current policy plans for digital identities to become mandatory.
“Some are not convinced that even if not the intention now, this would be the reality in the future.
“They are sceptical of government motivations for investing resources in establishing a digital identity services model and framework which is only motivated by convenience.”