The Australian government recently announced it has set 1 July as the tentative rollout date for its nationwide digital ID. The exact date will depend on the timing of its legislation which is due to be adopted by the federal parliament.
The UK has made similar plans, which were made public last year in a document titled ‘Enabling the Use of Digital Identities in the UK’.
Ethiopia, Nigeria, China, the European Union and a host of other countries are in the process of digitising their citizenry.
I reported last year that in the US, Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming have introduced Senate Bill 884, which would offer digital identities for all Americans, but thus far the bill has not been advanced through Congress. They are likely waiting for the opportune time, probably after some major cyber-disruptive event like that which was predicted in the Obama-produced movie ‘Leave the World Behind’.
I have also recently reported how Americans are being conditioned at US airports to having their faces scanned, which is part and parcel to having a de facto digital ID.
According to a report by Biometric Update, Australia’s stakeholder-comment period for a sweeping Digital ID Bill came to a close in late January after receiving submissions from business and financial groups as well as civil rights organisations. The government is now consulting with the states, ChannelNews Australia reports.
