4 ms·

I do not want a digital ID normalized. It’ll lead to a world where everywhere you go, you need to identify yourself. And those that don’t will be marginalized a

I do not want a digital ID normalized. It’ll lead to a world where everywhere you go, you need to identify yourself. And those that don’t will be marginalized and locked out of everyday basic services. There is an entire industry pushing this, and I’ve been seeing a phrase “id/acc”. Like to accelerate identification. It’s the opposite of privacy and anonymization. It’s evil.

alephnerd 8mo ago
It's already normalized in much of the world and has been for decades since Malaysia began the MyKad program in 2001 [0]. For developing countries, digital and biometric IDs make it easier to disburse public services as well as gain a more realistic understanding of demographics. Digital activism and (somewhat valid) paranoia around privacy is a luxury belief when vast swathes of the population in LDCs are unbanked and relegated to the informal economy. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_identity_card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_identity_card
- tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
  They also make it easier for nation states to cut off access to public and private services when they don't like what a citizen is doing. It's wasn't normalized by choice - it was forced upon people. I'm sure NGOs and governments love it but that certainly doesn't mean that citizens do, which governments are supposed to serve. The paranoia is very valid. [1] [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vietnam-bank-account-purge-boosts-095332550.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vietnam-bank-account-purge-bo...
  - alephnerd 8mo ago
    My in-laws in rural Gia Lai love having a biometric ID as does my extended family in rural Northwest India. Before there was significant friction when setting up physical IDs and bank and government services simply couldn't scale down to the village level, which would make routine paperwork a multi-day affair. Being able to do almost all government-related and banking paperwork over the Internet has legimately made it easier for my extended family in both VN and India to become banked, access public welfare without dealing with corrupt local apparatchiks, and accessing capital to think about making MSMEs. As I mentioned above, this kind of performative activism is a luxury belief.
    - deleted 8mo ago
      [deleted]
    - tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
      It's already possible to do government-related and banking paperwork over the Internet without digital identities linked to your biometrics. We do it every day in the United States. You're also conveniently ignoring the fact that the system in Ethiopia is being used for far more than banking or government services - their website lists obtaining internet access, sim cards, transportation etc... These digital identities are being used to surveil the activity of citizens and lock anyone the government doesn't like out of commerce.
      - alephnerd 8mo ago
        In the US most households have already had records and identities associated with themselves for decades. In most of the developing world, most people didn't even have a drivers license 20 years ago. > their website lists obtaining internet access, sim cards, transportation etc... These digital identities are being used to surveil the activity of citizens and lock anyone the government doesn't like out of commerce. So what? Ethiopia is also a country with active insurgencies and security risks. The benefits of security and stability outweigh the alternative. Look at China - it's progress in building digital public infrastructure is what helped it expand dramatically in the 2010s [0]. This is the same thing India is doing [1] (who implemented this project in Ethiopia btw), as is Brazil [2], and other Global South members. Even the EU is looking at adopting similar tenets as well [3]. [0] - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04614-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04614-4 [1] - https://ris.org.in/sites/default/files/Publication/DPI_Handbook.pdf https://ris.org.in/sites/default/files/Publication/DPI_Handb... [2] - https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/brazil-calls-for-global-public-digital-infrastructure-to-speed-up-climate-action https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/brazil-calls-for-global... [3] - https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/indias-digital-public-infrastructure-success-story-world https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/indias-digi...
        tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
Redoubts 8mo ago
> I’ve been seeing a phrase “id/acc”. I'm curious where, because the top google hits for this are a one-like twitter post, and your comment.

alephnerd 8mo ago

It's already normalized in much of the world and has been for decades since Malaysia began the MyKad program in 2001 [0]. For developing countries, digital and biometric IDs make it easier to disburse public services as well as gain a more realistic understanding of demographics. Digital activism and (somewhat valid) paranoia around privacy is a luxury belief when vast swathes of the population in LDCs are unbanked and relegated to the informal economy. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_identity_card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_identity_card

tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
They also make it easier for nation states to cut off access to public and private services when they don't like what a citizen is doing. It's wasn't normalized by choice - it was forced upon people. I'm sure NGOs and governments love it but that certainly doesn't mean that citizens do, which governments are supposed to serve. The paranoia is very valid. [1] [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vietnam-bank-account-purge-boosts-095332550.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vietnam-bank-account-purge-bo...
- alephnerd 8mo ago
  My in-laws in rural Gia Lai love having a biometric ID as does my extended family in rural Northwest India. Before there was significant friction when setting up physical IDs and bank and government services simply couldn't scale down to the village level, which would make routine paperwork a multi-day affair. Being able to do almost all government-related and banking paperwork over the Internet has legimately made it easier for my extended family in both VN and India to become banked, access public welfare without dealing with corrupt local apparatchiks, and accessing capital to think about making MSMEs. As I mentioned above, this kind of performative activism is a luxury belief.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - tinfoilhatter 8mo ago
    It's already possible to do government-related and banking paperwork over the Internet without digital identities linked to your biometrics. We do it every day in the United States. You're also conveniently ignoring the fact that the system in Ethiopia is being used for far more than banking or government services - their website lists obtaining internet access, sim cards, transportation etc... These digital identities are being used to surveil the activity of citizens and lock anyone the government doesn't like out of commerce.
    - alephnerd 8mo ago
      In the US most households have already had records and identities associated with themselves for decades. In most of the developing world, most people didn't even have a drivers license 20 years ago. > their website lists obtaining internet access, sim cards, transportation etc... These digital identities are being used to surveil the activity of citizens and lock anyone the government doesn't like out of commerce. So what? Ethiopia is also a country with active insurgencies and security risks. The benefits of security and stability outweigh the alternative. Look at China - it's progress in building digital public infrastructure is what helped it expand dramatically in the 2010s [0]. This is the same thing India is doing [1] (who implemented this project in Ethiopia btw), as is Brazil [2], and other Global South members. Even the EU is looking at adopting similar tenets as well [3]. [0] - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04614-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04614-4 [1] - https://ris.org.in/sites/default/files/Publication/DPI_Handbook.pdf https://ris.org.in/sites/default/files/Publication/DPI_Handb... [2] - https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/brazil-calls-for-global-public-digital-infrastructure-to-speed-up-climate-action https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/brazil-calls-for-global... [3] - https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/indias-digital-public-infrastructure-success-story-world https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/indias-digi...
      - tinfoilhatter 8mo ago

Redoubts 8mo ago

> I’ve been seeing a phrase “id/acc”. I'm curious where, because the top google hits for this are a one-like twitter post, and your comment.