ibejoeb 2 days ago

It's all happening really quickly, so I haven't been able to keep up. I know Starmer said that digital ID will be mandatory to work in the UK. Did he mention how that would be implemented? Is the UK going to issue and official device to everyone in country, or are the people supposed to pay for it? What about homeless, poor, and the provisional residents?

  • nonethewiser a day ago

    > Is the UK going to issue and official device to everyone in country, or are the people supposed to pay for it? What about homeless, poor, and the provisional residents?

    What about provisional residents? The digital ID proves identity. It is not a work authorization. Provisional residents can have a digital ID whether they work or not.

  • macleginn a day ago

    As a foreign national living in the UK on a long-term visa I can only say that the decision to discontinue physical BRP (residence permit) cards in favour of eVisas is singularly idiotic and harmful. One piece of evidence being that there are still things you can only do using expired BRPs, which will be in a some kind of zombie mode until mid 2026. After that, eternal misery.

    But this is basically nothing compared to what they are doing with their justice system, which mostly affects British citizens, so who am I to complain.

  • IshKebab a day ago

    Digital ID isn't really an issue. Most people already have several government digital IDs (government gateway, unique taxpayer number, etc.)

    They should have branded it "simplified ID" or something like that.

    I'll probably get instinctive downvotes but I think it's important not to mix up the actually-fine stuff with stuff like chat control, otherwise the message becomes trivial to dismiss.

  • zarzavat 2 days ago

    I assume that almost everyone in the UK who is able to work has a smartphone already.

    If they were to require digital ID for pensions or disability benefits there would be more problems.

    • captn3m0 a day ago

      There’s a famous article by Terence Eden about the kind of devices that people are forced to use to interact with the UK Government, written with his experiences working for the government.

      The devices include: A Playstation Portable. The latest stats include thousands of visits from XBox and Playstation consoles.

      All modern smartphone requirements boil down to Play Integrity and iOS AppStore attestations.

      https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/01/the-unreasonable-effectiven...

    • ibejoeb 2 days ago

      Even if that were the case, by what mechanism are they commandeering it? That's essentially what I was thinking about in this India case.

      Undoubtedly most people will comply, but there will be a few who don't, so I'm curious what the plan is to bring them in line.

      • zarzavat a day ago

        UK isn't commandeering anything.

        The UK government hasn't decided yet how digital ID will work, currently it's just a talking point. Probably it will be an app that you install, like the NHS app. Nobody is proposing that it be installed by default.

        Apple separately announced that a Digital ID feature will be built into iOS[0] which the UK may use or not use.

        > few who don't, so I'm curious what the plan is to bring them in line

        They will be told by their employer to get it otherwise they will lose their job. Just the same as now, only at the moment you need a paper passport rather than a smartphone.

        [0] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/apple-introduces-digi...

      • nonethewiser a day ago

        > Undoubtedly most people will comply, but there will be a few who don't, so I'm curious what the plan is to bring them in line.

        Can you elaborate on what you mean by non compliance? Without the ID you will have significantly worse access to services and employers. I think the pressure will be on the people, not the government, to comply.

4gotunameagain a day ago

Are you talking about downloading reddit, which is infested with the weirdest pornography that exists ?

While I am very much against facial scanning etc, it is quite clear that something needs to be done about the access of porn to kids. It is a drug like any other that we do not allow kids to consume.

  • nonethewiser a day ago

    I dont know why porn companies arent just sued into oblivion. There are already laws against distributing porn to minors in most places and porn companies do it routinely without any controls.

  • [removed] 21 hours ago
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  • ThatMedicIsASpy a day ago

    So what is your plan on dealing with wikipedia? I accessed porn in 2011 when I was 11. I played Postal 2 when I was 10. But no English skills at that age means not much came out of that game at that time except cat silencers.

    How many kids these days play 18+ rated games?

    • nonethewiser a day ago

      > So what is your plan on dealing with wikipedia?

      Im not sure I understand. Are you saying wikipedia has porn?

      • forgotoldacc 21 hours ago

        Yes. It even has articles dedicated to specific sex positions. I definitely looked at those articles fairly often as a young teen.

        But should I need to upload an ID to view that? I guess some people think North Korea has the right mindset with information control, so showing an ID to see who's seeing what makes sense. But I'm not of that mindset.

      • rootusrootus 19 hours ago

        Yes. Not necessarily on any pages. Go to the commons and search with some obvious keywords.

    • 4gotunameagain a day ago

      Do a few nude photographs on wikipedia hold the same addiction potential as an infinite stream of short form HD videos - specifically optimized for attention capture - on platforms like reddit ?

      I am not even sure whether I should take you seriously.

      • rootusrootus a day ago

        > a few nude photographs on wikipedia

        It’s a wee bit more extensive than that. Videos, more than a few, and most of them not tied to a wiki page.

        As someone who tried to run a clean BBS and later a web forum, I’ll never be surprised at the lengths people will go to share porn.

        • 4gotunameagain 5 hours ago

          It is still incomparable for all intents and purposes to platforms like reddit etc.

          Of course people go to great lengths to share porn. But we should also go to great lengths to protect kids (and adults) from incredibly addictive things like hard drugs, porn, gambling, lootboxes etc.

Traubenfuchs a day ago

> Luckily, in the UK you only have to scan your face and ID to access cat photos.

Please wait for us, the relentless chat control legislation will make us (the EU) overtake you and mandatory age verification is pretty much a certainty at this point.