The UK government addresses ‘misconceptions’ over the One Login system
One Login, which was designed to replace the UK’s highly debated GOV.UK Verify platform, is now facing controversy of its own.
The government of the United Kingdom released a fact sheet in an attempt to address what it terms as misconceptions around its newly developed digital identity system. One Login, which was designed to replace the UK’s highly debated GOV.UK Verify platform, is now facing controversy of its own.
The results of the recently held public consultations on the amendment to the UK’s Digital Economy Act, set to create the enabling environment for the implementation of the project, revealed many ‘anti-digital commentaries’. Respondents claim that DIs are subject to misinformation, government surveillance of citizens, the erasure of data privacy rights, and the promotion of mandatory DIs, a cashless society and a social credit system.
The fact sheet reassured the public that the DIs would give citizens access to all online government services, replacing the 190 sign-in routes and 44 separate accounts they now use, would allow for checks against a wider range of trusted data, and would only be used for verification purposes by select public sector organisations. Finally, they would not be mandatory.
One Login is currently in its second trial phase and has cost the UK government some 488m US$ to date.
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