‘Big Tech’ fears and confusion dominate dialogue over UK digital ID scheme

The UK government’s digital ID consultation has begun, its detailed plan for the process finally revealed, but all that is clear so far is the extent and breadth of confusion around what is being proposed.

Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones announced the consultation plan on Tuesday, just as The Cabinet Office launched the process. The consultation includes a public survey and stakeholder feedback.

The government plans to ask 100 randomly selected Britains for their input as part of a “People’s Panel for Digital ID.”

“This consultation is going above and beyond to bring people in to all the big debates, and the knotty trade-offs too,” Jones said.

The government is likely to find that people don’t understand what the plan is, or how it can help individuals, according to a December report from Hippo Digital offering “Qualitative insights concerning the UK Digital Identity scheme.”

In-depth interviews revealed that participants admitted low understanding of the scheme, but believed it has a much wider scope than what has been communicated so far. The misconceptions were both rife and familiar, from the total replacement of physical IDs to the creation of a massive new centralized database. One participant admitted their opinion is largely informed by the failed attempt to introduce a Britcard, saying “as far as what’s changed compared to last time I don’t know.”

The original stated purpose of the digital ID, to disincentivize illegal immigration, “was widely dismissed as ‘political pandering’” by the interviewees.

Almost all interviewees have regularly used private sector digital wallets, but would still prefer to use a government-issued wallet, as their mistrust for the government does not match their mistrust for “big tech.”

The big take-away may therefore be for the private-sector providers, as much as government. If UK digital wallet providers can differentiate themselves from “big tech,” a term that generally applies to companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, not those on the list of providers certified under the DIATF (now “DVS”).

Clear on what?

The Labour government’s plan includes integrating health and education data and services with the digital ID, but the ministers responsible for those departments, Bridget Phillipson and Wes Streeting, respectively, have balked at their departments participating. Identity verification for special educational needs funding and NHS services would have to be handled separately from the national digital ID.

For now, the Health Department is continuing to focus on the use of the NHS app going forward, The Times reports.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) business plan for the year, in contrast, includes exploring “digital pass certificates” and integrating with the GOV.UK Wallet to make license issuance more efficient, in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

With the plan for the consultation coming out the same day as the consultation itself, the government should be prepared to hear from stakeholders, expert or otherwise, that the UK would rather develop, communicate and approve plans prior to implementing them.

The consultation closes May 5.

UK startup raises $15M to build Europe’s sovereign alternative to biometric surveillance

UK startup raises M to build Europe’s sovereign alternative to biometric surveillance

A British start-up has raised millions for its biometric-alternative surveillance technology.

Augur, a resilience technology startup, has raised $15 million to update what it believes are outdated cameras and sensors guarding Europe’s critical infrastructure. The London-based firm launched in 2024 and counts 30 staff, according to reporting by The Next Web.

Augur says its AI platform can turn fragmented sensor networks into a real‑time intelligence layer for national security and public safety. The seed round was led by Plural, with participation from First Kind, Flix, Tiny VC, and SNR, and will support expansion across Europe.

Its system plugs into existing cameras and sensors, using machine‑learning models to detect unusual behaviour, link activity across sites, and reconstruct incidents in seconds. The company stresses that it does not use facial recognition.

Instead, it tracks anonymized movement and behavioural patterns, a privacy‑by‑design approach it argues sets it apart from generic video analytics and “smart city” platforms that rely on biometric profiling or basic detection.

Augur positions itself as a sovereign, mission‑focused alternative to global surveillance vendors, with compliance baked in for GDPR and the forthcoming EU AI Act. Augur was founded by Harry Mead (previously behind the safety app Path) alongside former Palantir employees Imran Lone and Stefan Kopieczek.

With the new funding Augur plans to grow its London team, accelerate research and development on AI models for high-risk environments, and integrate with more sensors and systems found in European infrastructure. It aims to scale early pilots into national‑level deployments with transport hubs, energy operators and major venues.

Alongside that, the start-up is working with policymakers on evolving AI, privacy, and security rules. In the long run, Augur wants to become the default resilience layer for operators responsible for protecting large populations across the UK, Europe, and “allied countries.”

In a blog post highlighting the dangers of sabotage, terrorism and hybrid war tactics, Plural set out the reasons for its investment in Augur. The London-based investment firm is focused on European technology that can drive resilience and sovereignty for the continent.

“The complexity of the threat picture facing our domestic security apparatus has changed dramatically, and our current capabilities to protect ourselves are both highly outdated and highly dependent on non sovereign technology,” Plural’s post says.

“Augur is building the modern operating system for security and public safety. Its AI analytics platform unifies the patchwork of existing surveillance systems and hardware to enable faster threat prediction, detection and response.”

ChatGPT driving rise in reports of ‘satanic’ organised ritual abuse, UK experts say

Perpetrators include abusive families and networks, human traffickers, online gangs and paedophile rings. Photograph: Andriy Popov/Alamy

Exclusive: ‘Witchcraft, spirit possession and spiritual abuse’ offending typified by sexual abuse, violence and neglect

ChatGPT is driving a rise in reports of organised ritual abuse, UK experts have said, as survivors of “satanic” sexual violence use the AI tool for therapy.

Police say organised ritual abuse and “witchcraft, spirit possession and spiritual abuse” (WSPRA) against children is under-reported in the UK. There is no modern-day charge that covers it specifically, but such offending is typified by sexual abuse, violence and neglect involving ritualistic elements – sometimes inspired by satanism, fascism or esoteric religious beliefs – to control victims.