Digital ID and The Future of Government

Dear America,

Why do we still have census every 10 years, people going door to door with a paper survey? Why are our election results effectively tallied by the news media and our social security numbers / birth certificates written on a post it note? Government services, voting districts, and welfare systems are at the core of our government, all based on faulty data that is prone to fraud and manipulation. There is a simple, tech enabled way to eliminate fraud, increase service levels & speed, and ultimately save hundreds of millions of dollars every year. A digital ID, fully transparent, public record, that we as citizens own.

Before you start calling big brother, there is a very simple way to process the need for this. If you want to be in this country, there are very basic rules to follow and being properly identified is one. With modern technology and fully public/transparent reporting, a digital ID has infinitely more good than potential evils. Right now, private companies that most people have ever heard of, control personal data, my data, our data, and they make billions a year, while we get higher interest rates on loans, credit cards and the most vulnerable people are denied access to credit. I’m talking about credit bureaus like Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Entire companies are built on your personal data, do you think Facebook is a free service because Mr. Zuckerburg is an altruist, or because they make billions selling your information by advertising things you don’t really need. So, spare me the argument that your data shouldn’t be in government hands, because your data is everywhere and you don’t get anything from it, except credit card mailers, cat videos and lower self esteem because an algorthim shows you how good everyone else’s life is, when they faked their Instagram pictures. Also, a digital ID has been done in other countries with great success, rural India has broken into the modern age without internet, and Estonia has created almost a fully virtual government, so let’s build on there successes to eliminate government fraud, increase service levels to our citizens, and democratize data channeling funds to those who need it most.

To start everyone in this country needs to have a digital ID, without it, you have to leave. This allows support services to serve those in need in a seamless way, and law enforcement the ability to keep everyone safe, lowering wrongful prosecutions. What does this Digital ID keep? It centralizes what our government already has, then adds a couple of new bits of information:

1) Name (already in DMV)

2) Address (DMV)

3) Birthday (DMV, Birth Records)

4) SSN is replaced by this record

5) Tax Records (IRS)

6) Picture (DMV)

7) Fingerprints (Federal DB if already given)

8) Retinal Scan (new)

9) DNA sequence (new)

10) Health record (local private databases)

11) Bank account(s) tied to it (current one stays in place for tax reporting)

A lot of government services can be fully automated, either at ATM type machines or with at home authentication hardware. To get social security payments or food stamps, you have to present a retinal scan and fingerprint. To renew a passport or update your address, log into your record with your retinal scan and fingerprints to update your information, get what you need in minutes, not months. When you vote, no need to leave your house, dead people don’t vote and everything is tied back to you as a person. If American Idol can get live voting done in minutes, why can’t our government. You have more computing power in your hand than our astronauts did when they went to the moon, let’s use it.

How is this safe? I don’t want just anyone to have these records.

Great points, but now that you actually own your data and it’s all public, no one can access it without your permission. If an agency or a company wants access to your data, you have to approve it first. If a company is asking for access to your record, you have the ability to set a rate they have to pay you for access, which you can automate or manually approve. If you need money and don’t mind your record being accesses, set your rate low and effectively get a universal basic income (“UBI”), if you have money and want to remain private, set your rate high or opt out of public access. Big data and AI are coming whether we like it or not, but we can all benefit, through fully accessible and instant voting, real time service from our government, potentially better clinical trials for healthcare. We can get paid for allowing our picture to be used vs being scraped from Facebook for free, and our lives become easier with quicker service. It can only be ideology vs common sense that is holding you back.

If you are party driven and ideological in your view, there is still something for you in this brave new system:

1) Benefits for the right wingers

a. If you aren’t a citizen, you can’t work, attend school, get government assistance, you must have a digital ID to use the services of the country

b. To be tough on crime, this tool is something law enforcement across the country can access instantly

c. Knowing who our citizens are will cut down on fraud, speed up service and ultimately shrink the government

2) Benefit for the left wingers

a. Knowing our citizens will help those most in need, they can access services with nothing more than their fingerprint and retinal scan

b. Taxing the rich has become instantaneous

c. Justice can be administered more fairly with better access to bigger & better data

We are not China, this isn’t about surveillance and repression of opposing views. This is about leveling the playing field, and giving our country a foundation to work from, which will pay for itself.

Sincerely,

The Middle American