500 signatures reached
To: Patrick O’Donovan, Media Minister
No to online surveillance: Scrap plans for state-run Digital ID card
We’re calling on Patrick O’Donovan, Minister for Media, to scrap plans for sweeping digital surveillance through new online age verification.
The proposal would force people to link their MyGovID (including biometric data, Public Service Card and other identity documents) to access social media platforms. There is a risk tech companies would also gain access to this government database.
Why is this important?
The government is rushing through a proposal for a new Digital ID card that would give them unprecedented oversight on what we do online.
The proposal is being touted as a way to protect children from harmful social media content. But by ignoring many more effective solutions (like getting social media companies to remove recommender algorithms for kids), it’s clear our government is using this as a cover to ramp up online control and surveillance.
The new digital wallet will be based on MyGovID - a scheme which has already been found to be illegally processing biometric data (facial recognition) and is still under investigation by the Data Protection Commission.
Despite this, the government plans to use MyGovID to verify people’s ages and link this Digital ID card with social media platforms. Given that most websites are connected to social media through the use of cookies, it would remove our ability to browse the internet anonymously. It would be the first time in history that our government would have surveillance over what we’re searching for and the ability to gatekeep certain content.
We have to call this out for what it is - a dangerous grab to control what we do and search for online. Sign this petition now and say no to the Irish government’s plans to lock down the free and open internet.