Wednesday 2 April sees the latest meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on digital identity. It’s more exciting than it sounds – honest!
APPGs have no power or governmental role – they are essentially well-meaning talking shops where parliamentarians can mix with the private sector and lobbyists to share information and learn about issues that may affect policy or legislation. The meeting about digital ID however, could get a bit heated.
As Computer Weekly revealed in February, the digital ID industry is very unhappy with the government just now – and in particular the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
A quick recap: after many years of delay and lots of investors’ money spent developing identity software and age verification solutions to conform with DSIT’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), the government dropped a bombshell on the sector in January by announcing the Gov.uk digital wallet and associated digital driving licence, and pitching both as a tool for digital ID and age verification when accessing private sector services, such as buying alcohol.
Previously, the government had promised to stay out of the ID market, focusing only on One Login, DSIT’s single sign-in software for accessing online public services.
Fast forward to today and the sector is still in uproar. ID companies have written to DSIT secretary of state Pete Kyle expressing their concerns and not one has received a reply.
An industry body, the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), in February wrote to the civil servants in charge of DSIT digital ID policy – Natalie Jones, director for digital identity at the Government Digital Service (GDS), and Hannah Rutter, CEO of the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes, which runs the DIATF – to express the industry’s concerns about the unexpected emergence of competition from the very government that has encouraged their existence.
“There remains a significant risk of flight of investment from the sector. Our members… need you both to take urgent action to reassure their investors and their employees about prospects for the future,” said the AVPA letter.
“The risk at present is that there will be little or no private sector for you to work with unless there is a clear demarcation that preserves profitable use-cases for the private sector. There has been no action on this since,” it continued.
“It was unfortunate that this announcement came without warning or consultation, and some of the illustrative examples hit so directly at the nascent private sector market for digital ID.”
Nearly a month later, Jones replied: “We want to reassure you that our aim is not to undermine this burgeoning industry. We fully recognise the importance of a thriving private sector market for digital identity in the UK and are committed to working collaboratively with private sector partners to support its ongoing growth,” she wrote.
“We are eager to foster an environment that not only mitigates potential negative impacts but also encourages collaboration and the adoption of credentials that benefit the economy as a whole. We are planning this engagement for later this Spring.”
The reply was long on similar promises of engagement and cooperation, but short on detail or firm commitments.
One leader in the digital ID sector described the situation as “feeling very badly let down, even misled, with age verification companies worried for their future”.
Contacts in the industry talk darkly of the influence of the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), which is a high-profile advocate for widespread use of digital identity and is known to be close to DSIT and the Labour government. There are many whispers around identity cards by the backdoor – but with a digital sheen to avoid the physical ID cards to which Blair received such a backlash as prime minister.
For example, a Home Office trial of age verification software in 2022 tested products that could digitally estimate age from facial scans, along with other techniques. Yet a subsequent consultation and policy discussions downplayed the use of age estimation in favour of digital identity tools.
Today, in the absence of adequate government reassurances, industry players speculate over whether this is an indication of a hidden agenda to justify the introduction of digital ID by stealth – given that age estimations tools largely avoid the need to actually identify the individual, instead gauging their age anonymously using well-proven artificial intelligence techniques.
Computer Weekly understands that high-profile civil society groups are showing an interest too, given their previous resistance to, and campaigning against, anything that could be used to sneak mandatory digital identities into government policy.
Industry is on tenterhooks. Government is keeping its cards very close to its chest. Something has to change. That may not happen at the APPG – but it could be a catalyst for either side to show its hand.