Silkie Carlo

Director of Big Brother Watch

Since 2018, Silkie Carlo has been the director of civil liberties NGO Big Brother Watch. Through the organisation, she has campaigned for privacy, for freedom, and against censorship and the surveillance state.

Why did we invite her on?

Last week, PM Keir Starmer revealed plans to implement a troubling new policy. In the coming years, every adult citizen in Britain will be required to have a government-issued ‘Britcard’ - a form of digital ID. It’s being pitched as a means to tackle illegal immigration, but one doesn’t need to take too great a leap of imagination to consider where it might lead us. Sure, it might just list our right to work, right to rent, and proof of age - for now - but is that really the end of the road? If things turn sour, how will we know? What can we do about it?

For Silkie, the lookout for government overreach has been her life’s work. Having hosted her twice before, we thought it was high time we had her back.

What did we learn?

”This is the seed of something very different. We have never had to carry ID papers in peacetime, but now we will have to, and it will be digital. It will be the beginning of a massive digital record about every citizen in this country. How far will that go? How much data will be on it? And how will it be used? We don’t know.”

There’s a lot we don’t know right now. If put into practice, we won’t see any change to daily life for several years yet. And it might not be for years after that that we start to see the stealth-authoritarianism that it threatens come about. The party are trying to assuage those concerns by framing it as a security measure - actually, it’s patriotic to support the ‘Britcard’.

”Almost anything oppressive could have some benefits. If you’re a Prime Minister who wants a big state, you could frame it as a good thing. But this is being imposed onto the entire population - a gateway to live your life, work, collect benefits…”

The best way to prospect our future is to look at other countries with a similar system. After all, Britain won’t be alone - several countries have digital IDs. And citizens of those countries have positive things to say about the scheme. Perhaps it’ll make things more convenient, more secure. Safer. Is that not something we can take comfort in?

Apparently not.