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peterbaker

eskbanker wrote: »

I do get the argument that a fully joined-up world of big government and big data would have its merits but of course there are any number of reasons why it hasn't happened thus far, cost being an obvious one but also cultural resistance - many countries are quite happy with the concept of a national ID card but talk of introducing this in the UK sent many to the barricades, sounding off about Big Brother and civil liberties, etc, so don't hold your breath for the revolution you're seemingly pining for!

Excuses excuses. We don't need an ID card just a secure NI card and some decent central digital ID of a similar type to that we are all using anyway for multiple accounts.

Just look at how we identify ourselves online and by telephone (perhaps with the exception of ideas like "Voice is my Password") - otherwise the extent of the passwords and usernames required to live has become bloody ridiculous in UK ... separate username and password for absolutely every flippin' relationship, with the growing exception that if we dare trust them, Google and Facebook have already somehow managed to present themselves as a central ID system for all manner of applications. No rioting in the streets over that. Times and the public consciousness move on. The UK and its businesses and traditional service providers however are making feeble excuses for digging their heels in over ideas like central government dashboards, and are instead implementing chaotic inconsistent online ID regimes which compromise overall personal security and seriously increase chances of identity fraud, not decrease it, because no-one knows where all the personal data goes once it is in the private sector. Any smart bent Tom !!!! or Harry can now obtain a completely mixed bag of millions of UK citizen records on the Dark Web from goodness knows how many breached databases e.g. AOL, Yahoo, Equifax, eBay, Facebook, Marriott Hotels, Dixons Carphone Warehouse, HMRC, LinkedIn, MySpace, Three Mobile, Uber, TalkTalk, MSE, British Airways, British Gas, Wonga, Ticketmaster et al, and with clever data science techniques completely undermine our security as and when they set their minds to it.

Consequently we are each as individuals expending huge energy in trying to stay safe online, and responding to unilateral decisions which vary our security with one relationship at a time, yet we are still getting nowhere with such simple questions as "How can I login (once) and see all my pensions in one place online?" and "how can I be sure that if NSI holds money in my name they will notify me by secure digital means using my central ID?"

eskbanker

You obviously enjoy your pointless hypothesising, but there are numerous reasons why the idealistic vision you have isn't going to be delivered at any time in the foreseeable future, even if it was generally agreed to be desirable, so I'd suggest you adjust your expectations accordingly.

Returning to Planet Earth to answer the one relevant point in your post, the answer to "how can I be sure that if NSI holds money in my name they will notify me by secure digital means using my central ID?" is of course that NS&I aren't integrated to the central government IDs provided to online users of HMRC and other agencies (NS&I products are available to non UK residents for one thing), but do provide secure digital access to manage holdings, as well as the facility to have winnings paid into your bank.

For anyone choosing to pontificate about how inadequate such capabilities are, well, nobody's forcing you to buy Premium Bonds and of course if you vote with your feet then you'd be striking back at those evil incompetents who oversee government data architecture