Identity Assurance and GOV.UK Verify 26 June 2015
An academic paper has been published which explores issues about how federated identity assurance systems like GOV.UK Verify work, and how users' privacy can best be protected.
GOV.UK Verify have a Blog and in a recent post mentioned that they have been asked to comment on an academic paper- ' Toward mending two nation scale brokered identity systems '. The Blog goes on to say:
We welcome the paper, and its contribution to the developing pool of knowledge and ideas about digital identity assurance.
GOV.UK Verify offers people a convenient, secure way to prove their identity when accessing digital government services. It does not have any other connection with or ability to monitor people or their data.
GOV.UK Verify protects users' privacy. It has been designed to meet the principles developed by our privacy and consumer advisory group . GOV.UK Verify does not allow for mass surveillance.
Only minimal data passes through the GOV.UK Verify hub. The person’s name, address and date of birth (and gender, if the user has chosen to state it ) is sent through the hub to a government department the person is trying to access. This only happens when the person accesses a service through GOV.UK Verify - the data is sent through the hub for the purposes of matching the person to the record that is already held about them in that department. No data about the person’s interactions or activities within certified companies or government departments passes through the hub. We are working with the author of the paper to clarify this aspect and provide assurance on the issues raised. We have invited one of the authors, Dr Danezis, to join our privacy and consumer advisory group (and we are pleased he has accepted the invitation), so that we can continue to consult a range of experts and privacy and consumer groups on our approach to these important issues.
Still a way to go on digital by default 7 July 2015
The Director of the Government Digital Service has acknowledged that while government services are now much more uniform than they have been, there are still far too many ways digital interactions with the state could vary, potentially leading to user frustration. As director of the Government Digital Service (GDS) since 2011, Bracken has overseen Whitehall's efforts to introduce a single platform for online services - GOV.UK - and brought in the Digital By Default Service Standard to try and ensure common standards across government. Under that Standard, departments offering services through GOV.UK should also come up with an “appropriate plan to phase out non-digital" channels and services, encouraging a process known as “channel shift”. But Bracken recently told the Policy Exchange think tank that he believed there was still some way to go before government could start switching off traditional services in favour of their online equivalents.
Read the full article from Civil Service World .
CIPP comment Interestingly in another Civil Service World article published in early June, GDS confirmed that its framework will be completely redesigned after complaints from users. Tony Singleton, director of the digital commercial programme at GDS, said that user feedback meant that it would be changing its approach to the third iteration of the framework, due to launch later this year.
Digital Services see change at the top 2 October 2015
CIPP Policy News Journal
25/04/2016, Page 194 of 453
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