Don't debate digital ID, trial it - the Isle of Wight could settle the argument
As heated debate rises around the UK government's plans for a national digital identity scheme - why not try it out to see if it works, in a well-defined, real-life environment with real people involved...
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With the government announcing its consultation on digital ID, a few thoughts on why delegated authority is non-negotiable
Nearly a year ago I wrote about how agentic AI *could* join-up govt in more effective ways … but worried it would instead end up being a new thin digital veneer, displacing the much needed transformation and improvement of the public sector. Has much changed …?
Amazon is experiencing AI-related outages, with a “trend of incidents” in recent months characterised by a “high blast radius” and “Gen-AI assisted changes.”
"Junior and mid-level engineers will now require more senior engineers to sign off any AI-assisted changes"
Useful piece from 'The Register', with more insights into the risks organisations face from the malicious use of agentic AI
A samurai outfit
A Japanese artistic scene with horsemen in battle
An elaborate Japanese samurai helmet
A beautiful, large conch shell
Samurai at the British Museum is good … much better than my photos 🙂
“The big difference is that now instead of … endlessly being asked the same thing, you … open your personal AI assistant … and say: ‘I’m moving from Manchester to Lerwick on 15 April. Update my details everywhere and confirm it’s been done.’
The agent then does all the heavy lifting.”
“Agentic AI potentially changes everything, despite still working from the outside-in. In fact, you could argue it’s almost as if agents were designed precisely to overcome the website-centric, organisation-focused divisions that characterise ‘digital government’.”
Nearly a year ago I wrote about how agentic AI *could* join-up govt in more effective ways … but worried it would instead end up being a new thin digital veneer, displacing the much needed transformation and improvement of the public sector. Has much changed …?
some thoughts on how governments will need less databases, less data sharing, and less processing and profiling as citizens increasingly become able to directly prove their eligibility for a service ...
“Just as the website-centric approach to govt transformation created a digital veneer over the top of silo policies, organisations, processes, and data, AI runs the risk of doing the same. Particularly as governments often prefer visible, low‑risk improvements over deep structural reform.”
This post from early Jan continues to get a lot of interest:
“… from policy planning in a local authority to welfare claims ... People will use AI to generate all sorts of well-sourced submissions with little effort for themselves while placing a huge burden on the public sector in the process.”
⬆️ very much this
I guess I was expecting a secure identity selector / profile switching a bit like this :)
if it's going to be the gateway into the GOV.UK Wallet it needs to support multiplicity—otherwise every time someone logs out of one account (personal) and into another (business) they'll lose everything stored in their wallet associated with their personal account: mobile driving licence, etc.?
it's meant to support multiple accounts (as per the 'multiplicity principle'), but doesn't seem to actually do so? Not much use right now if it continues to delete everything from the app (approved documentation etc) when you switch between accounts ... unless that's now been fixed?
anyone know if GOV.UK One Login now lets users switch between their different One Login accounts (e.g. different business accounts, personal account, etc.)? Or does it still delete everything and make you start all over again?
A few recent things that caught my eye — from digital identity to the world-leading work of Capita (coughs)
“The failure to use digital technologies and practices as a catalyst for public sector reform doesn’t just hinder government’s policymaking, operational efficiency, and effectiveness. It also weakens and jeopardises democratic legitimacy.”
A screenshot from the Crapita Civil Service Pension website. It shows the response after filling in full contact details ... although it acknowledges "We've sent your enquiry" it then says "Your reference number is NOT FOUND". The website has been like this since it launched, unable to let members re-register and then when they fill in the contact form, failing again.
... and a month or more later, nothing has been fixed.
Ta-da! The finale of 'The Backstory':
Lesson 8—Legacy: starting with "legacy tech" starts in entirely the wrong place
Lesson 9—A Self-Inflicted Crisis: the 30+ year failure to rewire government leaves it struggling to tackle social, economic, and geopolitical challenges
Here’s the 5th part, covering:
Lesson 6—Personal Data: “data sharing” is an insecure legacy from the era of filing cabinets & typewriters, better options exist
Lesson 7—Digitised Paper Versus Cross-Cutting Action: govt websites should be in rapid decline if govt's becoming truly digital...
And here’s part 4:
Lesson 4—Identity: government’s eternal challenge to get digital identity “right” as an essential element of public sector reform
Lesson 5—Public Data: government’s failure to deliver its open data ambitions have left it working in the dark
Up Helly Aa is live … hope to be back there next year :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Vb...
And here’s part 3:
Lesson 2—Rethinking Government: re-organising the public sector, joined-up policymaking, citizens’ life events
Lesson 3—Digital Standards, Platforms, and Amnesia: using platforms and a digital backbone to join-up policy independent of its departmental boundaries
“As a matter of principle, we do not think that capacity constraints are a legitimate reason for delaying long planned elections. Extending existing mandates risks affecting the legitimacy of local decision making and damaging public confidence.”
And here’s part 2.
It introduces:
The Backstory, which analyses three decades of UK government digital initiative to identify reasons for the lack of progress.
Lesson 1—The Vision, which explores why repeated ambitions to renew and rewire government have yet to be achieved.
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The UK government has begun testing of a digital driving licence – the highest profile official document so far to be digitised as part of the roll-out of the Gov.uk digital wallet....
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Here's the first in a series of instalments from my book ‘Fracture' in which I'm going to explore:
— why decades of digital initiatives have failed to deliver the desired modernisation of government
— what a modern, adaptive democracy could look like
— what changes are needed to get us there
