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Digital identification’s weaknesses far outweigh its strengths.

Warning against centralisation in January 2020, three cybersecurity experts from Deakin University said,

‘Identity Providers consolidate information in one place, and risk becoming a single point of failure.’

This ‘exposes users to harm. Such as ‘stolen or compromised personal information.’

Additionally, businesses and other institutions could end up being privy to more information than they need in order to provide their services.

Writing for The Conversation, the three experts noted: ‘the Trusted Digital Identification Framework (TDIF) does not give users the option to control what information is disclosed.’

Digital ID appears to give institutions the potential to discriminate on political, socio-economic, religious, or medical grounds.

For example, when renting a house, Digital IDs could give a real estate agent access to sensitive medical information, such as vaccine status.

Likewise, a bank could access more information than is required to secure a loan.

Australian Labor and the LNP’s Digital ID — quietly launched in 2015 — is a can of worms.

The temptation to misuse information from birth certificates to biometric data is too great.

There’s also the potential for activists in government to compromise, then weaponise Digital ID information, leaking private information on their political opponents.

Consider COVID zealotry.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to posit a scenario where an individual real estate agent on his or her 7^th COVID jab quietly rejects an application on the grounds of vaccination.

A decision which could be based on an information dump provided to the service provider by the government on your behalf.

Secure?

Of course, as for the Voice, the Albanese government is not big on the details.

What matters for them are the feels, tone, and optics.

The five features and benefits of Albanese’s National Digital ID are:

1. The convenience of having all our personal information in one easy-to-access place online.
2. Going paperless – they claim – “better” protects Australians from having their information stolen.
3. Faster service.
4. More personalised interactions.
5. Greater access to even more Government programs.

National security runs a close 6^th in the “reason to buy” sales pitch.

A joint government press release on November 30 upped the ante:

‘Digital ID is secure, convenient, and (yup) inclusive.’ (parenthesis mine)

It is a ‘critical capability in keeping Australians safe,’ the Government declared.

‘Digital ID is the safer way for Australians to prove who they are online.’

Despite Albanese’s safetyism selling points, a National Digital ID will make Australia a surveillance state.

Choice?

Answering The Conversation’s 2020 cybersecurity concerns, the Labor government are saying the Digital ID scheme will be voluntary.

The problem with this assertion is that you cannot deal with Centrelink without having the MyGov app.

Will a user have to have a Digital ID in order to use the app?

In all likelihood, the answer is yes.

Look no further than: “CCP-19 vaccines are NOT compulsory, but they are!”

In order to use the Digital ID, a person must have a permanent subscription to the grid.

Requirements for a Digital ID demand ownership of a personal “smart” phone, email address, and being over 15 years old.

Additionally, the government states they will allow users ‘control over what information is shared by asking for consent.’

No one, it seems, gets to consent to what kind of personal information stays outside the government’s control.

According to online tech magazine Information Age, the ACCC — an independent Commonwealth organisation funded by the government — will be made the TDIF’s regulator.

When it comes to how the government uses our Digital ID, the government will be regulating itself.

At a cost to taxpayers upwards of AUD $145 million, the Digital ID scheme is being sold as a carefree plug-and-play passport.

Just set and forget.

There’s no need to bother with all that pesky, private paperwork anymore.

Hand all your cares over to “Big Brother”.

The catch is, the government gets full access to our personal information and private lives.

Total Control

As noted by The Conversation in 2020, the release of Digital ID has been from the top down.

The kind of information being stored and then sourced by third parties will include ‘birth certificates, marriage certificates, tax returns, medical histories.’

Add to this biometric data, and because smartphones can trace, track, and tell on us, ‘behavioural information’ as well.

While there has been consultation with privacy groups and businesses, there has been minimal consultation with the public.

Critics of the legislation, and Digital IDs in general, range from journalists to savvy politicians, like Peter Sweden, who warned,

‘Sweden already has a Digital ID scheme, and some people have gotten a microchip to use for cashless payments.’

It’s compulsory, he explained.

‘People need it to be able to do everyday tasks like online banking, shopping and more.’

United Australia Party and One Nation have both slammed the rollout, with Ralph Babet stating,

‘Digital ID combined with the Central Bank Digital Currency will give the government and the bureaucracy massive levels of control over your life.’

Malcolm Roberts quipped,

“Not compulsory.” Yeah, right. You just won’t be able to access government services without a Digital ID, be allowed in certain venues or participate in parts of society.’

Firey Sky News contributor Liz Storer pushed back, saying the Government was pushing their own agenda, without consultation with the people they serve, the Australian public.

“No government deserves that kind of data,” she concluded.

Star LNP senator Matt Canavan also broadsided the Labor-Green rush to push Digital IDs through the Senate, saying,

‘Remember when they told us that the vaccines would be “voluntary”? They are now saying the same thing about their plans for digital IDs.’

‘Don’t believe them,’ he added.

Digital IDs hand the government a power over people that goes well beyond the stated function of the office.

The mechanics of this modern-day Celestial Railroad are cause for alarm.

It’s the equivalent of Hawthorn’s deceptive Mr Smooth-it-Away selling tickets to by-pass Bunyan’s pilgrims and the King’s Highway.

Further, an ID pre-empts the introduction of a cashless society ––Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDS) — and social credit scores.

Much of which would be governed by cancel culture and its debased, graceless, snake-in-the-grass system of social justice.

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Photo by Reiner SCT.