UK government ignores data leak warnings as MPs back online digital checkpoints

The Open Rights Group warns that the Children and Schools Wellbeing Bill will force millions to hand over personal data to access everyday services.

The digital liberties organization, Open Rights Group, has warned that the UK government is risking the creation of a system of digital checkpoints. The warning comes after MPs backed the Children and Schools Wellbeing Bill that seeks to expand age identification across online platforms, rather than just to prevent access to adult content.

ORG said that as age identification expands, millions more people will have to hand over personal data to access everyday services. Concerns center on weak safeguards for user data, data reuse, and the possibility of fraud if user data is stolen. Just this week, medical information of over 500,000 participants of the UK Biobank science programme was found for sale on China’s Alibaba–and it’s not the only incident of data loss related to the UK government.

James Baker, Platform Power Programme Manager at ORG, said that in less than a year, the UK has gone from checking IDs for porn to the prospect of checking ID to access social media or unlock features such as livestreams or algorithmic feeds. He also pointed to this news story showing that government-mandated social media bans like those seen in Australia are being sidestepped with face masks and their parents’ ID.

Another worry held by groups like ORG is that children will start using more seedy platforms that don’t enforce checks and potentially connect children and pedophiles in unregulated chats. This is the type of argument we’ve heard peddled by Big Tech, which says it already has safeguards in place.

After a decade and a half of social media companies basically doing whatever they want with little oversight, and the negative social consequences this has caused such as radicalization, mental health crises, and child exploitation, it is extremely unlikely that the UK government, or any other for that matter, are going to seriously consider this view. In fact, many governments globally are now taking much tougher action against Big Tech after some countries have shown it can be done.