{"id":1431695,"date":"2023-10-09T12:50:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T16:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1431695"},"modified":"2023-10-09T12:50:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T16:50:00","slug":"eu-digital-identity-wallet-pilots-roll-out-under-the-radar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/eu-digital-identity-wallet-pilots-roll-out-under-the-radar\/1431695\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Digital Identity Wallet Pilots Roll Out Under The Radar"},"content":{"rendered":"

EU Digital Identity Wallet Pilots Roll Out Under The Radar<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Stavroula Pabst via The Brownstone Institute,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

As 2023 continues, the European Commission appears busy developing and running pilots for its\u00a0EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI)<\/a>, which it intends to make available to all EU citizens in the near future. But while the European Commission (EC) boasts the prospective EUDI\u2019s convenience, security, and wide range of prospective use cases in daily life, what\u2019s less discussed is the tool\u2019s potential for a bevy of ethical and surveillance-related issues.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

What is the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI)?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

The EU Digital Wallet, often referred to as the\u00a0EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI)<\/a>, is slated to be offered to the European public in the years ahead.\u00a0According to the European Commission<\/a>, \u201cEU Digital Identity Wallets are personal digital wallets allowing citizens to digitally identify themselves, store and manage identity data and official documents in electronic format. These may include a driving licence, medical prescriptions or education qualifications.\u201d<\/p>\n

As legislation streamlining their slated use across Europe\u00a0is finalized<\/a>, the European Commission is advancing its efforts to roll out EUDIs amongst the general European public, where over 250 private corporations and public authorities\u00a0are participating<\/a>\u00a0in four large-scale pilot projects. At the time of writing, the EU has\u00a0invested \u20ac46 million<\/a>\u00a0into these pilots.<\/p>\n

Indeed, a wide range of use cases are already being tested in the EUDI pilot projects. These\u00a0include<\/a>\u00a0using the wallets to access government services, register, and activate SIM cards for mobile network services, sign contracts, facilitate travel, and present educational credentials. All together, these use cases suggest the Digital Identity Wallets\u2019 prospective utilization across a wide range of services essential to daily life.<\/p>\n

Convenience, But for Whom?<\/h2>\n

The European Commission frequently plays up the digital wallet\u2019s convenience, with messaging\u00a0boasting<\/a>\u00a0that users will be able to use the Wallets to check into hotels, file tax returns, rent cars, and securely open bank accounts. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen\u00a0highlighted the following<\/a>\u00a0in a 2020 State of the Union address, where she proposed the concept of a \u201csecure European e-identity:\u201d<\/p>\n

Every time an App or website asks us to create a new digital identity or to easily log on via a big platform, we have no idea what happens to our data in reality. That is why the Commission will propose a secure European e-identity. One that we trust and that any citizen can use anywhere in Europe to do anything from paying your taxes to renting a bicycle. A technology where we can control ourselves what data is used and how.<\/p>\n

Certainly, von der Leyen is correct that \u201cwe have no idea what happens to our data\u201d when we create online accounts or log in to private services, positing that Digital ID can work to solve a core problem many people have when using the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But critically, the European \u201ce-identity,\u201d and digital identification methods generally, pose a bevy of new issues for civilians in both the short and long term. Namely, while Digital ID can provide users access to services, a\u00a02018 WEF report<\/a>\u00a0on Digital ID admits the tool\u2019s propensity to exclude; \u201c[f]or individuals, [verifiable IDs] open up (or close off) the digital world, with its jobs, political activities, education, financial services, healthcare and more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And indeed, within the control of a corrupted state or other governance structures, Digital ID\u2019s propensity to \u201cclose off\u201d the digital world appears ripe for misuse or abuse. Researcher\u00a0Eve Hayes de Kalaf<\/a>, for example,\u00a0writes in the\u00a0Conversation<\/em><\/a>\u00a0that \u201cstates can weaponise internationally sponsored ID systems\u201d against vulnerable populations. She highlights an example from the Dominican Republic, where\u00a0long-term discrimination against Haitian-descended persons<\/a>\u00a0manifested in the\u00a0stripping of their Dominican nationality<\/a>\u00a0in 2013,\u00a0rendering them stateless<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it\u2019s not difficult to imagine others falling through the digital \u201ccracks\u201d as Digital ID systems become mainstream and interconnected with, if not a prerequisite for, accessing critical social and financial services and supports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Jeremy Loffredo and Max Blumenthal elucidate in 2021\u00a0reporting for the\u00a0Grayzone<\/em><\/a>, for example, the 2017 introduction of\u00a0Aadhaar<\/a>, India\u2019s biometric ID system, \u201cwhich tracks users\u2019 movements between cities,\u201d led to a spate of deaths in rural India as difficulties accessing the Aadhaar system functionally blocked goods and benefits recipients from accessing the country\u2019s ration stores, leaving them to even starve. India\u2019s\u00a0Scroll<\/em><\/a>\u00a0reported that, in a random sampling of 18 villages in India where biometric authentication had been mandated to access government-subsidized food rations, 37 percent of cardholders were unable to obtain their rations.<\/p>\n

Despite the devastation it has caused, Aadhaar has ultimately been promoted as a success, and\u00a0Rest of World<\/a>\u00a0reports that India\u2019s setting up international partnerships to export its popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an instant payment system which uses the Aadhaar biometric ID system as its base, elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Clearly, Digital ID poses significant possible societal harms if implemented hastily. Despite these possible harms, as\u00a0I note for Unlimited Hangout<\/a>, a near-universal adoption of Digital ID systems increasingly appears inevitable, with \u201cJuniper Research\u00a0[estimating]<\/a>\u00a0that governments will have issued about 5 billion digital ID credentials by 2024, and a 2019 Goode Intelligence report [suggesting] digital identity and verification will be a\u00a0$15 billion market by 2024<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further, legislative strides have been made towards the digital wallet\u2019s\u00a0interoperability across the EU<\/a>. In other words, key services are being hyper-centralized across borders and digitized in ways more traceable than paper counterparts could have been \u2014 all at the authorities\u2019 fingertips.<\/p>\n

Critically, the EUDI Wallet is apparently slated to connect with or otherwise include financial services, where EU citizens\u00a0will be able<\/a>\u00a0to use their EUDI to open bank accounts and even apply for loans. Further, language from a European Central Bank policy brief on the European Digital Identity Framework\u00a0suggests<\/a>\u00a0that the \u201cEUDI wallet will bring benefits to all the stakeholders of the payment ecosystem\u201d even including \u201cforeseen support for the digital euro.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the European Commission\u2019s keen to spotlight the EUDI\u2019s alleged benefits for \u201cthe stakeholders of the payment ecosystem,\u201d it appears less eager to\u00a0discuss the dangers<\/a>\u00a0surrounding the plausible, if not likely,\u00a0linkage of digital identity with money<\/a>, and especially digital currencies, where elite capacities to track, or even manipulate or block civilians\u2019 abilities to accept or make payments, could be unprecedented.<\/p>\n

In short, EU Digital Identity Wallets are slated to be convenient for everyday civilian use. At the same time, these wallets, and other adjacent digital ID systems budding elsewhere, could also be convenient for governments and governance structures looking to surveil, monitor or otherwise manipulate or control critical aspects of citizens\u2019 lives en masse.<\/p>\n

The DIIA Connection<\/h2>\n

Despite its lack of EU member status and war on its hands to boot,\u00a0Ukraine is involved<\/a>\u00a0in the EU Digital Wallet pilots. Namely, as I reported on\u00a0my Substack<\/a>, DIIA, Ukraine\u2019s hyper-centralized state-in-a-smartphone app, is assisting the EU Digital Wallet\u2019s rollout. In fact, Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov highlighted in a\u00a0Telegram post<\/a>\u00a0from July that DIIA representatives had even showed off the DIIA app\u2019s capabilities at the\u00a0POTENTIAL (Pilots for European Digital Identity Wallet) Consortium<\/a>\u00a0this summer.<\/p>\n

Notably, many of the EU Digital Wallet\u2019s use cases being tested in the pilots are already reality with Ukraine\u2019s DIIA app. Indeed, Ukrainians use DIIA for a range of day-to-day activities, including to verify their identities to use banking services, hold a variety of digital IDs (such as drivers\u2019 licenses and biometric passports) and\u00a0even pay certain taxes<\/a>\u00a0and access\u00a0social services for families<\/a>. Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Digital Transformation has emphasized its intention to make\u00a0all public services<\/a>\u00a0available online: DIIA is to be the \u201cone-stop-shop\u201d for these services.<\/p>\n

And, as I\u2019ve mentioned before in previous reporting for my\u00a0Substack<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Unlimited Hangout<\/a>, DIIA\u2019s scope creep continues as conflict deepens, with the app providing war-adjacent services. Ukrainian civilians affected by war\u00a0have received stipends<\/a>\u00a0through the app, for example, and can also verify their identities through DIIA to sign into e-Vorog (\u201ce-enemy\u201d),\u00a0a chatbot<\/a>\u00a0that allows Ukrainian citizens to report information about Russian military whereabouts to the state.<\/p>\n

All together, these conditions suggest DIIA may serve as a kind of blueprint for or precursor to Europe\u2019s adjacent Digital Wallet, where the EU Digital Wallet, already a centralized application slated to assist citizens in a number of critical day-to-day services, could take on a growing number of government services across the European Union. While it remains to be seen what happens with the Digital Wallet rollouts in Europe, the wallet\u2019s EU-wide implementation and smartphone app format, where features can be easily introduced, removed, or edited at will, means that scope creep on a comparable scale cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Many people are understandably interested in digital documents and other easy ways to access public services and complete tasks in a digital age. But these services and tools, when facilitated by states and adjacent governance structures, and unaccountable members of the private sector, come with significant ethical and surveillance concerns that should be extensively discussed and debated by the public. In this respect, it appears the prospective EU Digital Identity Wallet is no exception.<\/p>\n

But debate or not, Digital Wallet pilot rollouts and EU member states\u2019 respective Digital ID adoption is ongoing, with an\u00a0EC press statement<\/a>\u00a0explaining that \u201ceveryone will have a right to have an EU Digital Identity\u201d accepted in all EU Member States.<\/p>\n

And while the European Commission\u00a0communicates<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthere will be no obligation\u201d to use an EU Digital ID Wallet, EC report\u00a0Communication 2030 Digital Compass: The European Way for the Digital Decade<\/a>\u00a0elucidates<\/a>\u00a0that a 2030 target for the EU is for 80 percent of citizens to use an \u201celectronic identification solution.\u201d Ultimately, the mixed messaging leaves room for speculation that, even if Digital IDs are not obligatory when introduced, the general population could somehow be nudged or eventually even mandated into adopting Digital IDs to access key public services.<\/p>\n

While Digital ID proponents emphasize the tools\u2019 capacity for convenience and security in an increasingly online world, the ethical and privacy issues I\u2019ve highlighted here signal that, if rolled out hastily, the EU Digital Identity Wallets could ultimately have disastrous and lasting consequences for privacy and civil liberties. And, once implemented, it seems Digital IDs could be difficult to roll back even if unpopular, ultimately nudging people into a technocratic nightmare they cannot easily escape.<\/p>\n

In short, the dangers posed by emerging Digital ID systems like the EUDI Wallet cannot be discounted as Europe grows into its \u201cdigital decade<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 10\/09\/2023 – 08:50<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/eu-digital-identity-wallet-pilots-roll-out-under-radar<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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EU Digital Identity Wallet Pilots Roll Out Under The Radar Authored by Stavroula Pabst via The Brownstone Institute, As 2023 continues, the European Commission appears…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}