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Get ready for this

I've already written about the push to introduce Digital ID in the UK and the furore that is causing.

In that column I also suggested that NZ would likely not be too far behind the UK and Australia in its attempts to roll out such a mechanism here.

Sure enough, this story ran recently on the Radio NZ news site.

According to RNZ, "Digital Identification is on its way" and I guess that if we don't engage in a concerted push-back, it will be forced upon us whether we like it or not.

I already covered the pros and cons of digital ID but another story on the wires today really does emphasize the cons.

According to multiplesource, Discord says 70,000 government issued IDs were stolen in a recent hack against its systems or those of a related third party.

What does this mean?

Anything stored on a computer system with online access can be hacked.

Already many experts in the UK are saying that it's not a case of "if" the government's planned digital ID database will be hacked but "when".

So what happens here in NZ, if we're all bullied into accepting a form of compulsory digital ID?

Will enough people even care about an issue like this?

Is it time to simply accept that we're living in an increasingly authoritarian world where governments have transitioned from being the slaves of the people into being their master?

For many years now, we've seen the gap between rich and poor, between have and have-not continue to widen. This tend has been driven by numerous factors but a transition to the situation where government controls all aspects of your life will only make things worse.

Those who are sufficiently "well connected" have the opportunity to acquire more wealth and power than those who are simply servants of the government and taken to its ultimate extreme, the whole concept of democracy breaks down and disappears.

We're told that digital ID is essential for the efficient operation of the state apparatus and if we accept that without protest then it's really not such a huge step to accept that we no longer need the overhead and inefficiency of elections. If the government can be trusted to oversee and control almost every aspect of our lives via a digital ID then surely they can also be trusted to oversee themselves without the pesky overheads of democracy.

It may sound as if I'm being facetious or glib in my comments but trust me, I'm deadly serious. All it takes for evil to triumph is that good men do/say nothing.

Digital ID is definitely on the cards here in New Zealand so I think we should all (including the NZ government) be paying very close attention to the situation in the UK right now. I honestly believe that if they do try to force digital ID on the population of the UK, the government will fall -- and rightly so. Is our government smart enough to learn from that?

I hope they will but I fear they won't.

Enjoy your freedoms while you still have them.

Carpe Diem folks!

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