The following has been published on the UK Government website as part of a consultation:
Digital identities are an easy way to help us prove who we are without the need for physical documents. They can also help us prove things about us, such as our age or our qualifications.
This document sets out the government’s vision for the rules governing the future use of digital identities. It is part of the government’s wider plan to make it quicker and easier for people to verify themselves using modern technology. The aim is to create a process as trusted as using passports or bank statements.
The government is inviting comments and feedback. You can do this here:
Comment on the framework using the feedback survey
The survey is open until 12 pm on Thursday 11 March 2021.
This new ‘trust framework’ lays out a set of rules organisations should follow, including the principles, policies, procedures and standards governing the use of digital identity. The framework sets out areas such as:
- how organisations should handle and protect people’s data
- what security and encryption standards should be followed
- how user accounts should be managed
- how to protect against fraud and misuse
Once it is finalised, we expect the framework to be brought into law.
For more information, you can read the press notice.
What is insidious about this is that the UK Government is preparing a template for the roll-out of social credit score sytstems as seen in China and this is what the privacy website Tutanota has to say about this:
Social credit system
When people hear social credit system, everyone thinks of China and the upcoming Chinese system to make people live according to the government’s rules. Yet, social credit systems are already in place in many more countries, even here in Europe and America.
Private social credit system: How bad is it?
Of course, no one calls it social credit system, but if you think about it, it’s already here: The insurance company that calculates your risk premium based on information gathered from social media. The bank that calculates your financial credibility and, thus, your interest rates, based on information provided by the Schufa (German system). AirBnB and Uber disabling accounts, for example if a home owner or driver reported you for ‘bad behavior’, without giving you any choice to appeal.
These are just some examples that clearly show that some form of social credit system is already established. There are companies that gather information about you that lead to consequences based on this information. That’s basically the same as a social credit system.
The only difference to the looming Chinese system is that it is not yet inter-connected. If Uber blocks you, you can still use a Taxi. If one insurance asks for a high premium, you can try to get another. But what if this changes?
The web is a surveillance machine
As it stands today, you are what you click. As soon as you access the internet, everything you do is being tracked by your browser, by third parties with the help of cookies, by almost all the sites you keep being logged in (Google, Facebook, etc.).
The entire internet is a mere surveillance machine. The data you freely give is aggregated and a profile about you is being created. Up to now this profile is ‘only’ being used for targeted advertisements.
The consequences right now are not nice, but also not too bad: The advertisements shown to you might lead to overpriced products and services because your profile suggests that you are willing to pay too much for these things. Whether because you are a fan, or because you like the convenience of a quick buy, or simply because you have too much money and, thus, don’t care.
Right now it is easy to filter out the consequences of this form of online surveillance by simply installing an ad-blocker.
However, the vast amount of data combined with artificial intelligence opens the door for unprecedented tracking and data abuse: The Clearview scandal demonstrates this in the worst way possible.
Interconnected surveillance machine
Right now, every company and every public agency only has a subset of data. However, it is very likely that in the future all the data available online will be connected.
If you use several Google services, this is already happening. Yet with better tracking technology, tech companies will find a way to connect your data gathered across services: Your Google user profile will be merged with your Facebook profile will be merged with your insurance profile and so on.
And that’s exactly what sounds so scary about the Chinese social credit system: Western media suggest that this merging of information is already being done in China. The connection of lots of information about individual people leading to an individual score that either helps them achieve the things they want in life or prevents them from same.
As soon as this happens, as soon as all data is connected and a profile about you is established, it will be very difficult to change this profile.
Social credit system has real-life consequences
This virtual profile of yours will lead to real-life consequences: You might not get the loan you need to buy a home because of a bad social credit. You might not get a car insurance, and thus, are stuck with public transport because of a bad social credit.
Most people think that these consequences will not affect them because they lead a good life. After all, that’s the aim of any social credit system: force people to lead a good life. And what’s so bad about this?
Definition of ‘good’
The problem is the definition of ‘good’: For companies ‘good’ might imply people who are recurring customers, who buy too much and spend too much.
For governments ‘good’ might mean people who follow the rules and don’t speak up. Ever. No matter what the government decides.
Social credit system is bad for freedom
Either way, whether you want to please a company in the hope of getting a better deal or a government, any form of social credit system will lead to self-censorship.
You will no longer post your pictures from last night’s party on social media out of fear your health insurance might go up. Or you will no longer post pictures from the demonstration you went out of fear that your government will not let you go to university.
Even worse: You might stop partying or going to demonstrations altogether.
In the end, the social credit system will lead to self-censorship to an extend we have never seen before. Fueled by all-round online surveillance, the majority of people will try to present themselves in the best way possible, always and everywhere, even in their private conversations.
Freedom of speech is undermined by social credit systems
Freedom of speech is protected by most constitutions, and this for a very good reason. Only with freedom of speech we can discuss any issue freely, develop new ideas, and evolve our democracies into better places for everyone.
Any social credit system – be it private or public – is bad for freedom of speech.
Even though in our Western democracies, there is no state actor trying to implement such a system, the threat is still there.
While we perceive the Chinese social credit system as ‘bad’ – because a non-democratic government wants to use it to make its citizens follow the rules, the private social credit systems that are currently emerging in our societies are no better.
Remember 2 weeks to flatten the curve? Remember that Children wearing masks in classroom was nonsensical? We are now occupied by a ‘Medical Junta’ working alongside China & Big Pharma and the below shows this is the framework for further fundamental changes to our society and way of life:
The UK digital identity and attributes trust framework uses scoring to let people compare attributes quickly and easily.
Because the trust framework is based on outcomes, not approaches, there are several ways to meet its requirements. This means the metadata organisations use will not always be consistent. For example, you can use various standards when you check if an attribute could have been tampered with.
Relying parties and other attribute consumers cannot be expected to know all the standards and technologies that attribute providers can use. Using a scoring system means that attribute consumers can be confident the attributes they get will meet their needs.
The exact scoring requirements for attributes will depend on how they’re going to be used. For example, an online shop might:
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accept low-scoring attributes when they add someone to their mailing list
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need higher scoring attributes to sell an age-restricted item
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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