The Gov.uk Wallet. It sounds innocuous, doesn't it? A clever little app to keep your digital driving license. I have spent years in the balkanized but positively buzzing scene of graphic novels’ arbiters and the (tenuously connected) expansive, yet innervated terrain of the nascent metaverse. Now, beneath the surface, I see something much larger, more sinister, and nefarious afoot. We find ourselves at an extraordinary inflection point, on the cusp of a digital Rubicon. The choices we make today on digital identity will deeply impact our future. Are we really creating a bridge to a liberating metaverse utopia—or just paving the road to a new dystopian nightmare?
Algorithmic Chains or Digital Freedom?
Imagine this: a world where every transaction, every interaction, every thought (if neural interfaces become a reality) is tracked, analyzed, and judged by an unseen algorithm. Your access to services, your ability to travel, even your social standing, dictated by a score assigned by the government. Sound like science fiction? Thousands of dystopian novels, starting with 1984 and Brave New World, show the terrifying future we face. The Gov.uk Wallet, in its most extreme interpretation, would indeed take us down that very path.
Think about it: a single, centralized digital identity controlled by the government. Each time you pull out your digital driving licence to purchase a pint, data is amassed. Every experience you encounter with the government, your life is just building a more and more accurate profile that could stand in for you. Your profile might bar you from accessing key services. Or even further—to penalize you for your controversial views or try to influence your conduct.
Now, picture this in the metaverse. Your avatar, a virtual, mobile, constantly-monitored, constantly-controlled representation of yourself. Your freedom to speak, to innovate, to communicate with other people stifled by the lines drawn by the federal government. A digital panopticon where every step is surveilled, every utterance memorized. This isn't the open, decentralized metaverse we were promised; it's a digital prison.
One way forward A metaverse utopia, where our digital identity helps us flourish, find creative avenues, and keeps our personal information safe, is possible. Look, it’s easy to do this—imagine a world where you’re taking back control of your own data. You can travel through rich virtual environments, develop and profit off digital goods and services, establish dynamic digital societies uncensored and unmonitored by outsiders.
With a strong foundation in self-sovereign identity principles, self-sovereign digital credentials allow individuals to own their own, portable, interoperable digital credentials. Where privacy is not a privilege, but a universal right. Where the metaverse is a space for play, cultural expression, freedom of thought and behavior, and economic opportunity—rather than a mechanism for social control.
Forgotten Voices: The Inequality Amplifier?
The marginalized. The vulnerable. For those already on the margins, trying to operate in a confusing, discriminatory system. Consider the burden on refugees, the unsheltered, or those lacking regular access to technology. Will they be further digitally divided, further digitally oppressed, by a system that requires that level of digital literacy and access?
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be worried about algorithmic bias. The challenge, of course, is that algorithms learn from data. If that data reflects disparities that already exist, the algorithm is left to only repeat and magnify those inequalities. Imagine a digital identity system that discriminates against certain ethnic groups or that denies access to services based on socioeconomic status. This isn’t even a theoretical worry, but rather a near-term reality.
This is where centre-left values have to be brought to bear. The fight for an equitable and inclusive digital identity We must ensure that any digital identity scheme avoids exacerbating existing inequities. It should be a safeguard ensuring it always protects the rights of the most vulnerable members of society. That it doesn't exacerbate existing inequalities.
Parliament Must Ask Tough Questions
Parliamentary inquiry into digital identity is once in a generation opportunity to start the digital society right. That’s only if it asks the right questions. Don’t just focus on the expected advantages of reduced crime and better control of immigration. Prioritise first the ethical and social implications of a government-backed digital identity scheme.
The Home Affairs Committee should dig deep on the ways in which the use of biometric technology risks infringing privacy, enabling data discrimination and algorithmic control. It has to pay attention to the disproportionate impacts on our most marginalized communities and the potential for abuse of power. More importantly, it needs to insist that the federal government be transparent and accountable.
The fact that 42 Labour MPs are calling for a comprehensive digital ID program, echoing the sentiments of Tony Blair, is deeply concerning. Blair's previous attempt at a national identity card was a disaster, and we risk repeating the same mistakes if we don't learn from the past.
This requires us to examine the UK government’s current digital identity scheme, Gov.uk One Login. We find the reports of security vulnerabilities and data protection failings incredibly disturbing. What should we be asking the government to prove before trusting them to run a national digital identity scheme? It fails to even protect its current infrastructure.
The upcoming launch of the Gov.uk Wallet is not just a matter of technical challenges. It begs the most important questions of all, about the kind of society we want to build. This is the slippery slope—do we really want to live in a society where everything we do is monitored and managed by the federal government? Or do we want a society where individuals are empowered to control their own data and shape their own digital destinies?
The choice is ours. Let's make sure we choose wisely. Together, let’s call for a digital future that is creative and principled, all at once safe and liberating. Together, we can create a metaverse utopia, not dystopian nightmare. So the time is truly now, before we pass that digital Rubicon and the way back is lost for good.
