Digital wallets risk becoming government controlled digital strait-jackets-Ken O’Flynn TD

"We see in the UK the far left Labour Government are making a very poor attempt to sell digital ID as a tool of convenience - but it's not working, people are not stupid”

Digital wallets risk becoming government controlled digital strait-jackets-Ken O’Flynn

Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn has said he will oppose any attempt by Government to introduce a “digital wallet” due to unresolved concerns regarding their potential to increase the risk of identity theft and their ability to act as key tools capable of situating governments as “the gatekeepers of digital life.”

The Cork North-Central TD made his remarks following confirmation by Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers that he has secured government approval for the Digital Public Services Plan to be published next week.

The wallet is being promoted as a tool to enable greater ease of access to all public services and will be included in a mobile app that will hold digital versions of government documents include driver ‘s license, birth, death, and marriage certificates, and age verification documents.

For Deputy O’Flynn, “the fact that every significant document verifying a person’s identity will be accessible in one place should act as brake on the roll-out of the plan not as a selling point for its adoption.”

He added, “Anyone living in the post-Covid world should shudder at the thought of handing governments and hackers even greater levels of access to our activities and an all-consuming knowledge of the choices we may make in privacy on a daily basis. We saw during that dreadful time how easy it was for governments to engineer total control. We do not need a repeat of that.”

“We have to remember that this is coming in as part of our compliance efforts with EU regulations and that while those regulations may speak about offering the wallet within member states on a voluntary and free of charge basis, we are all aware that non-adoption could soon become compulsory through service exclusions, such as the inability to access banking, welfare, or travel without it. We see in the UK the far left Labour Government are making a very poor attempt to sell digital ID as a tool of convenience - people are not stupid”

“There is a precedent and precautionary tale here if we look to the Chinese experience of the social credit system, where digital IDs enforce behavioural compliance and contribute to concerns of a surveillance state.”

“I am in the business of getting government out of people’s private lives, not facilitating even greater levels of intrusion and control of them.”

Deputy O’Flynn concluded, “Ultimately, we must ask, who is the digital wallet going to benefit and why the sense of urgency around it, particularly given the scope for biometric data harvesting and for a deepening of our dependency on technology for controlled access to basic life services.”