- Plans to boost legal status of digital identities to make
them as widely recognised as driver’s licences and bank
statements
- Easily recognised trustmarks to be issued for digital
identity products to build public confidence
Plans to create a new system to make digital identities as
trusted and secure as official documents, such as passports, have
been published by the government.
Digital identities allow people to easily and quickly prove their
identity, such as when buying a house or starting a new job,
without the time, effort and expense currently involved when
using a physical document.
The technology, which can take a number of forms such as a phone
app or other web-based service, has many advantages over paper
documents. For instance, 220,000 cases of personal data abuse and
impersonation were recorded in 2019. Digital identities could
help reduce these cases as they are much harder for fraudsters to
access and replicate.
They also boost privacy by restricting the personal information
an organisation sees to precisely what is required. For example,
someone buying age-restricted goods would be able to prove they
are over 18 without needing to disclose their date of birth, name
or address.
Today the government launched a consultation on proposals for a
governing body charged with making sure organisations follow
government rules, developed with industry and published in draft
form earlier this year, that allow digital identity companies to
prove they adhere to the highest standards of security and
privacy.
The body - which could be housed within an existing regulator -
would have powers to issue an easily recognised trustmark to
digital identity firms which certifies that people’s data will be
handled in a safe and consistent way. It will work with
organisations to take proactive action to prevent and enable the
detection of fraud and security incidents, as well as encouraging
inclusion.
Digital Infrastructure Minister said:
The plans laid out today will ensure people can trust the app
in their pocket as much as their passport when proving their
identity.
Digital identities offer a huge opportunity to make checks
easier, quicker and more secure, and help people who do not
have traditional forms of ID to prove who they are.
This technology is a vital building block for the economy of
the future, and we’re ensuring that people who choose to use it
can have confidence their data will be handled safely.
Digital identity will widen access to legally valid forms of
identification for people who currently find it difficult to
prove something about themselves. For example, if someone does
not have access to an official document, such as a passport, they
may be able to prove their identity digitally through another
government service, or other means such as a vouch from a doctor
or other trustworthy source.
To ensure digital identity products are available to as many
people as possible, businesses will be required to report
annually to the governing body on which users are excluded from
using their services and outline what is being done to mitigate
this.
Equally, digital identity use will not be mandatory and people
will retain the option to use available paper documentation.
It also suggests new powers to allow digital identities to be
built on a greater range of trusted datasets - such as those
managed by the DVLA, or the General Register Office which are
responsible for birth certificates. It proposes allowing digital
identity businesses to ask government authorities to confirm
whether a piece of information, such as someone’s age or address,
is valid and matches their records.
Just as the government is committed to not making digital
identities compulsory in the UK, it also wants to ensure that
people in the future are not forced to use traditional identity
documents, if these are not strictly required.
The consultation sets out how the government can build confidence
in digital IDs so they have a similar status in law as physical
proofs of identity that businesses and individuals already trust.
The consultation is open to any member of the public and closes
on 13 September.
