Digital IDs are coming and they're worse than you think

Much, much worse

The technocrats are out of control. You might’ve heard about digital currencies, potentially god-like AI, facial recognition systems, and the frankly terrifying mind-reading headphones (that one still doesn’t seem real), but perhaps the most immediate dystopian threat is that posed by digital IDs.

Imagine living in a world where AI is monitoring your every step online, thanks to your digital ID, and then through facial recognition cameras, monitoring every step you take in the real world. This reality is getting worryingly close. And don’t think they wouldn’t do this when they’re obsessively hoarding and selling our data.

Mass surveillance is real and it has been for a long time. We are now reaching the logical next step.

The UN is talking about imposing digital IDs on the people of the world without their consent and many governments are keen, including the UK government. The UN acknowledges that people will not want digital IDs and will strongly resist but insists governments press ahead with the Global Digital Compact.

Just stop and think about that: Absolutely nobody in any country voted for digital IDs and no one wants them and yet they could be imposed on billions of people against their will! This is one of those what the fuck moments.

A digital ID could mean your bank card, driving license and all other forms of ID are rolled into one, and this ID could be linked to your digital wallet (a phone app). The technology would link nicely with e-currencies which is why bankers are rather keen on the idea.

Digital ID could be controlled by the government or a third party contractor (what could go wrong?) but the ultimate plan is much scarier. The UN wants to set up an apex body to oversee standardised digital IDs. They want this body to be in place by 2030, but they’re pushing for digital IDs to be introduced as soon as this year. They’re talking about setting up global, national, and regional offices, giving their unelected bureaucrats an extraordinary level of access into, and control over, our lives. This would be Big Brother on steroids.

Digital ID is considered part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, but I’m struggling to see what this has to do with sustainability. They’re talking about linking digital IDs to their carbon credit system. Does this mean energy rationing could be on the way? Honestly, I’ve no idea, but I do know digital IDs are used to ration food in Iran.

Now I’m all for tackling the climate crisis, but I do not remotely trust these weirdos because I’ve seen what they’ve had to say and it’s batshit.

They want to implement your biometric data into your digital ID and they keep using the terrifying phrase of “digitising humans”. When do I get to vote on whether I’m digitised? Seriously, I’m a cyberpunk writer, this is not good! These fuckers would turn us into binary code and upload us into the Metaverse if they could.

The fact evil corporations like Blackrock, and Satan himself, Tony Blair, are among those pushing for digital ID should concern you. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is involved in plans which would ultimately integrate all financial services into digital IDs. Even worse, there is talk of blacklisting people to stop them accessing banking services. How they would eat in a digital-only world is beyond me. These people truly are sociopaths.

A future of food and energy rationing as the climate crisis worsens is looking worryingly plausible, and if we wait too long, there might be no way of resisting.

The digital ID would be linked to your financial assets, and quite possibly integrated into voting systems and required to access the internet. Worryingly, it could be suspended or deleted at any time, effectively cutting you off from society. It could prevent you from purchasing goods or accessing services, using your bank account, even receiving healthcare. Yes, the UN is arguing people should be denied healthcare unless they can provide a digital ID! My fucking god.

Digital ID could be the most powerful tool for silencing dissent the establishment has ever had. Think about how organisations like Mint Press News were kicked off the likes of Patreon and PayPal for wrongthink. They could potentially be denied all access to money, forcing them out of existence. This idea could be used to crush any form of protest, and if you complain online, they could kick you off social media!

Perhaps they will be more subtle: down-ranking people, giving them temporary bans, letting their digital ID “accidentally” go down due to a “technical issue”, etc. They could make you an unperson, either temporarily or permanently. Even if they don’t go this far, who wants anyone to have that power over their lives?

Conspiracy theorists are predicting a financial crisis will be manufactured to introduce digital IDs globally. I don’t have the slightest clue if there is anything to that claim so we’ll just wait and see, I guess.

What I do know is they don’t need a financial crisis in the UK because digital IDs are coming soon regardless. The UK government is all too aware the British public is reluctant to accept national ID cards so digital ID is their workaround. Initially, it’s going to be rolled out for government use, such as assessing the right to work, right to rent, and making DBS checks.

By soft-launching digital ID, they can gradually increase its usage, step by step, until eventually it’s necessary to access anything and everything online and even access public services. They’re talking about using digital ID for crypto compliance, check-in for travel, gambling checks, and telecommunications contracts.

The advantages they’re highlighting are things like “access to benefits”, but at present, you don’t need a digital ID to access benefits! They argue digital IDs are harder to forge or use without authorisation than passports or driving licenses, but who thinks this is worth sacrificing a huge chunk of our freedom for?

Wait, surely the elite wouldn’t want to live under such an authoritarian system because it would mean they would lose their freedom too…

Lo and behold, a separate digital ID system would be introduced for the elite. I mean they can’t be monitored and controlled like the rest of us, can they? If it’s good enough for us, it’s not good enough for them!

The Online Safety Bill could be the perfect opportunity for the government to sneak digital IDs into our everyday lives. In its current iteration, the bill would force many websites to verify the age and identity of users, and a digital ID would be the most logical way to do this.

If you must log in with a digital ID, your internet history could be in the hands of these people. Are you comfortable with that? You can imagine the uproar if such information fell into the hands of hackers or was leaked. Someone could access your entire porn history and use it to blackmail you!

Seriously though, who would be keen to browse websites if they’re being tracked, knowing AI could be keeping a social credit score? Social media is already rigorously monitored, might as well extend this monitoring to the entire internet.

A social credit score is speculation, of course, but what isn’t speculation is that they’re talking about an “active history check” to ensure someone is not using a synthetic ID or the ID of a dead person. What would be stored in your “active history” is anyone’s guess.

“I can, um, see this person has been accessing PornHub for years, their ID must be real! Oh hang on, they watched a forbidden political YouTuber just before they were banned last year. Best not employ them…”

I might be taking this idea to the extreme but think of all the checks we go through to access jobs: bank statements, credit references, work references, personal references, proof of qualifications, proof of address history, even proof of unemployment without a single moment in time unaccounted for. And let’s not forget companies love to monitor their employees’ social media. Some of these bastards would dig deeper into your data if they could.

If employers are accessing my digital ID, I’m going to be concerned about what data is stored on there - and I might have no way of knowing. This is all rather worrying but there are glimmers of hope.

Digital IDs could massively hurt web traffic as people limit themselves to essential websites, and corporations are not going to like this. Many governments and banks might be onboard but tech firms are understandably not so keen. This is one of those rare occasions when tech giants are on the right side of an argument - and ironically opposed to data collection. There is a simple reason - digital IDs could hurt their profits.

The UN is promising digital IDs will lead to a 3-13% boost in GDP, but that looks like pie in the sky, and if the economic benefits don’t become obvious, investors could pull the plug on their nefarious scheme. Thankfully, governments tend to be dreadful at introducing systems and I could easily see digital IDs collapsing into farce.

The UK government introduced a Verify system to access online services, but most government departments never used it. I’m not surprised. I remember trying to log into, I think it was the DVLA, and it was like trying to get into Fort Knox. I gave up in the end. Among many other things, you can imagine the frustration of the verification system going down, leaving you stuck when trying to do something important.

Governments who’ve introduced digital IDs, such as the Nigerian government, have encountered problems with persuading people to adopt them. Figures show fewer than 10% of people have voluntarily adopted digital ID. There have also been problems integrating government and private systems - and I can’t see how you do this without data sharing. This means you risk giving your personal data to organisations every time you use your digital ID.

Of course, we will be told our data won’t be harvested in this way, that safeguards will be put in place - and this will be bullshit. Data is currency, it’s like gold. And governments and corporations love that gold.

These people pretend digital IDs will somehow benefit us, but they can’t spell out a single tangible benefit to ordinary people. Instead, they offer word salads and mumble about how digital ID will reduce inequality??? Last I checked it was billionaires hoarding wealth like dragons on piles of gold that drove inequality, not lack of digital ID.

Perversely, they insist digital IDs will pave the way to an “an open, free, secure and human-centred digital future”. Even someone with the IQ of a potato can see this is an Orwellian inversion of reality.

They are talking about having people, devices, and entities tied up in a network controlled by unelected bureaucrats, and the way such bodies tend to operate, we’d have little or no idea of the decisions they make. I do not consent to such people having non-democratic control over my life, but they want to take that control anyway.

Will we be allowed a national conversation about this? Will there be debates on TV? A referendum? I’m guessing not so we’d better be prepared to kick up an almighty fuss.

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