I'm An Online Harms Expert, Here's Why I'm Terrified Of Digital ID For Kids

An online harms expert has opened up about why she’s “terrified” about the risk digital ID cards could pose to children when they are implemented in the UK.It comes after the UK government announced a new digital ID scheme, under the premise of making it easier for people in the UK to use government services.Digital IDs will also prevent people who have entered the country illegally from being able to work. The government said it hopes it will deter immigrants from “making dangerous journeys”.Following a public consultant, the IDs are expected to be rolled out to all UK citizens and legal residents by the end of this parliament.Each digital ID will include a person’s name, date of birth, information on nationality or residency status, as well as their photo. The consultation is considering if any additional information, like address, should also be included.But in a video on social media, Catherine Knibbs, an online harm and cyberpsychology consultant, said the idea that “millions of children’s data” will be collected and stored somewhere “terrifies” her.Earlier this month the BBC reported the government is to consult on whether teens aged 13 to 16 should be included in the roll-out of digital IDs, as some are already working part-time.Knibbs, who is the author of Tech Smart Parenting, warned parents it would mean “a database of your child’s information, including their image, being stored somewhere”.“Why is that a problem? Well, when the recent online safety bill required websites to verify the age of their users, companies hired third party services to do the age verifying part. And guess what happens? Those third party companies were hacked,” she explained“Users’ images and personal information stolen and used for God knows what, by God knows who. Sold? Maybe, nobody really knows.”The therapist continued: “Now I want you to imagine every child in the country – their image, personal information – held in a government database. But government databases are going to be super secure, right?”She then proceeded to show a (fairly long) list of UK government data breaches.There have been a number of high profile public sector data breaches in recent years, involving huge institutions like HMRC, the Metropolitan police and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).In one leak, details of 18,700 Afghans, as well as SAS and MI6 officers, were leaked, leading to thousands of people having to be secretly relocated in the UK.The online harms expert said she regularly sees cases of children’s information being leaked, stolen, sold on the dark web, or families being blackmailed: “And it’s hell for the families involved, not just the children affected.”She added: “The market for children’s information on the dark web is, unfortunately, booming. The demand is there and digital ID will create one of the largest supplies of children’s data just waiting to be hacked.”There is currently a UK petition against the introduction of digital ID cards, which had almost 3 million signatures at the time of writing. (For content, parliament considers all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures for a debate.)In response to the petition on 2 October, the government said: “We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament to help tackle illegal migration, make accessing government services easier, and enable wider efficiencies. We will consult on details soon.”HuffPost UK has contacted the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology about whether digital ID will include children – and if so, how data will be kept safe.Prime minister Keir Starmer is facing a mounting Labour rebellion over his plans to introduce digital ID cards.The plan is facing cross-party opposition from the Tories, Lib Dems, Reform UK and the SNP.Related...Porn Is Educating Our Kids About Sex – Are We OK With That?UK Porn Age Verification Is Here – But What If We’re Sending Teens Somewhere Worse?12 Brits Share How Online ID Checks Changed Their Porn Habits

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