The UK government is proposing new legislation to make digital identities “as trusted and secure” as physical official documents, such as passports and driving licences. The move is being welcomed by digital identity companies, which would need to gain government accreditation – or a “trustmark” – to show they can handle identity data safely.
However, some privacy experts have questioned whether it is necessary to legislate for digital identities at all – and warned that people who do not use digital identities may be excluded.
The government published its response to a public consultation on digital identities last week. The proposal will see the creation of a new office for Digital Identities and Attributes to overview security and privacy standards for digital IDs in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport....