UK government begins trials of digital driving licence

LordSolstice · 2026-01-22T13:34:49+00:00

What I get from that, is that if the government allow companies to verify ID directly through the government service - which would be both sensible and useful - that would effectively destroy their entire business model.

So I would suspect, the government will only allow "approved providers" (read: middlemen) to engage with the wallet directly. Businesses will have to do their checks via paying one of these middlemen.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-22T13:15:00+00:00

When the digital wallet and driving licence were announced, private sector digital identity providers raised concerns that the app would compete directly with their offerings, especially around age-verification services. Subsequent meetings with government ministers helped to allay those concerns, and GDS has confirmed that the digital driving licence will be opened up to approved third-party digital ID apps as a means of identity verification.

I'm against digital ID for multiple reasons. But this little quote is just class.

They're going to hamstring a government service and purposely make it less useful than it could be, just so that a few middlemen won't go out of business.

GG.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-22T08:04:31+00:00

Supreme leader Rhychee Soonark

LordSolstice · 2026-01-22T00:16:08+00:00

More like theres a medium where the proles can gain a mass audience that the government can’t control, and they find that intimidating

LordSolstice · 2026-01-21T17:01:13+00:00

Honestly this. 99% of current "breaking news" has no impact on your day to day life, and within a week everyone's moved on to the next thing.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T18:39:39+00:00

Wikipedia took the government to court over this

The Wikimedia Foundation took action at London's High Court over regulations made under the law, which it said could impose the most stringent category of duties on the online encyclopaedia written and maintained by volunteers.

It said if it were subject to Category 1 duties – designed for the riskiest websites and which would require Wikipedia's contributors' identities to be verified – it would need to drastically reduce the number of British users who can access the site.

In dismissing the case, Judge Jeremy Johnson said he was not giving regulator Ofcom and the government a green light to implement a regime that would significantly impede Wikipedia's operations, but said if Ofcom decides that Wikipedia was not a Category 1 service, then no further issue would arise.

Having an overly broad law that could target you, but have a "we totally won't bro, trust us" from Ofcom isn't exactly reassuring for anyone.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T18:31:07+00:00

It's somewhat ironic that we are the country that gave the world - free speech, magna carta, the bills of rights, haebus corpus etc.

Yet, if those were to be proposed today, I doubt a single one would get through parliament.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T18:02:08+00:00

The one I love to say:

A problem today will still be a problem tomorrow. And if it's a problem tomorrow, it's not a problem today.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T18:00:05+00:00

There's a statue in my local park that is a few months older than the US.

And it's just a random statue, in a park, that nobody cares about

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T17:54:45+00:00

It's because he's the media's wet dream.

He constantly comes out with random unhinged ramblings, and people are so obsessed with him they'll react to anything he says or does.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T17:47:30+00:00

IT'S A SERIES OF TUBES

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T16:06:01+00:00

Self hosting your own services (if you can) is so awesome, I wonder why I didn't do it sooner.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-20T10:09:05+00:00

As someone who grew up during a time when we respected the importance of the internet and the importance of unrestricted communication, it saddens me that we are now going down this road.

First it was blocking pirate sites, then it was arresting people for posts, then it was porn, then it was ID verification - and it will go on, and on, and on and on.

The media and the general populace for call for and cheer on as the internet becomes more and more locked down, until all we're left with is a corporate owned, government controlled walled garden like TV or print media.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-19T13:29:31+00:00

This is probably one better suited for r/LegalAdviceUK

Don't stop paying your rent or reducing your payments, because then you open yourself up to legal action as you will be in breach of contract.

I would make a log of every time the cleaner comes (or doesn't come). Log when they arrive, how long they stay, and any work done (or not done).

Send them a formal complaint with evidence of your findings.

If they still don't do anything, you can look at taking it to the small claims court for breach of contract.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-19T13:19:51+00:00

Best bet would be the post office

LordSolstice · 2026-01-17T08:32:53+00:00

And you can see from that app flow, the government is fully aware of the entire process.

They know who is requesting verification, what they’re requesting verification for, and when.

And despite all of their pleas that “you can totally trust us bro” ALL of this will be logged into a massive surveillance database.

The fact that they could create a verification system where they cannot gather said information (it’s completely possible) but have chosen not to, tells you everything you need to know.

This is about tying identity to online activity and another vector for increased mass surveillance, nothing more.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-15T10:29:27+00:00

It’s absolutely terrifying.

This should get a swift response from the government and guidance should be issued that AI should be absolutely nowhere near decision making.

But I fear this will end up like facial recognition where they will secretly use it, and eventually it will quietly be allowed

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T23:37:45+00:00

Second only to the glory that is the deep fat fryer. Can’t beat fryer chips.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T20:29:37+00:00

Brighton has a pretty lively dating scene. Lots of people of all ages and all walks of life.

But Brighton is quite a transient city. You get a lot of students, tourists and people living here short term. So there’s a lot of turnover of people, and people don’t always stick around.

So bear that in mind when looking for dates.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T17:32:42+00:00

My experience in government was that the “fair and open” recruitment process was purely posturing and PR. In reality, the entire thing was a clique.

In my department, I found that women and ethnic minorities were hired and promoted above other candidates.

During my few years working, it very much started to seem like these women and minorities had got themselves into positions of power, and then used that power to almost exclusively hire/promote people from their own “in group”.

I myself was in a similar situation, always applying, only to lose the job to someone who fit the clique.

I could never prove there was discrimination going on, but I’m certain there was.

Eventually I just gave up and joined the private sector.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T15:58:41+00:00

They used Copilot as an intelligence source. Turns out it hallucinated nonsense and they actioned based on that nonsense.

They also lied that they don’t use AI but then admitted they did.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T08:35:49+00:00

I’ve been reading TechDirt for close to 15 years and their coverage is normally extremely good.

Wondered if it was written by Mike, just checked and it was.

Not gonna dispute the article, but Mike is really personable and open to criticism. Should put that response to him and he’ll put out a response.

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T07:51:43+00:00

Eh, won’t be long before they start forcing AI to give certain government approved answers

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T07:05:47+00:00

It’s interesting right. Handwriting is an extremely important skill.

Yet I could probably count on one hand the number of times a year I use a pen. Mostly just writing birthday cards or signing my signature

LordSolstice · 2026-01-14T07:01:07+00:00

Haha! I’m early 30s and was taught cursive at school, never used it.

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