IT Essentials: Driving towards digital

Two decades of tech have changed the debate on digital ID

What's changed to make a digital ID card more palatable in 2025?

It's been almost two decades since the UK's last attempt at a central national ID database, which the public soundly rejected.

First and foremost were fears of a growing surveillance state, closely followed by a simple disbelief that the government would get it right (or would outsource it to Capita).

Fourteen years on, the prospect – as seen this week in moves towards a digital driving licence – looks much more palatable, and technology has played a big part in changing perceptions.

In the mid-2000s, concerns focused on the database itself, rather than the ID cards. In 2025, we're used to storing important documents digitally, and cyber defences are more robust.

Any sort of central ID repository will be a prime target for both nation state attackers and regular criminals, though. Protection has to be a central consideration for the government as they push forward with this new scheme.

We can take some consolation in the government’s own digital capability, which has advanced in leaps and bounds – the gov.uk website winning multiple awards, and different government departments taking on their own ambitious transformations. Happily, the proposed digital licences will be part of a dedicated Gov.UK app.

And in terms of privacy, we already know it will be possible to hide your home address on the digital licence, but Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has suggested it could go further, saying the scheme will “put people in control of their own data.” It's a common political talking point, but also a favourite phrase among Fediverse fans. Hm...

It all falls down a bit flat as soon as someone is caught with no charge, though. Regulating longer battery lives and fast charging has got to be a vote winner, right?

The Crown Prosecution Service is one of the government departments to have advanced well beyond its early 2000s capabilities – albeit only recently. Gemma Hyde tells us how the department has strangled and beaten its monolithic legacy.

In the first of a series of articles, Penny Horwood looks at the shortsighted lack of employer support for young people in tech, as well as examining if Microsoft’s joining of cloud industry body CISPE is a Machiavellian move to quash the competition.

And because it's impossible to go a single week without talking about artificial intelligence, John Leonard talks to data protection officers at Canon, WHSmith and Prudential about the AI-shaped headache for privacy professionals.