The UK Government announced in September 2025 that a new digital ID scheme would be introduced by 2029. As part of these proposals, the Public Accounts Committee launched an inquiry to examine the potential impact on citizens.
Dr Ozduzen shared her findings with the committee, highlighting public concerns and advocating for enhanced public consultation and statutory tools to bolster privacy and trust around digital identities.
Her evidence draws on extensive research into community mistrust, public protests, and attitudes towards state and technology infrastructures, including work on collective identity and distrust surrounding digital ID introductions.
“"The research highlighted the concerns protesters had around “stealth” rollouts of universal biometric identity systems through incremental changes such as age verification, as well as the risk of digital exclusion for those unable or unwilling to engage with these tools."
Seven key policy recommendations have emerged from this research, including the establishment of formal public consultation mechanisms, opportunities for deliberative decision-making, and new regulations to prevent 'function creep', ensuring data collected for digital identification is not used for additional purposes.
