The Belgian authorities is clearly in step with the World Economic Forum’s views. While digital freedoms are more and more underneath stress worldwide, a very worrying improvement is rising in Belgium: The authorities is planning to tighten digital identification necessities.
Until now, possession of digital identification playing cards (eIDs) was optionally available in Belgium. But that is now set to alter. The authorities plans to hyperlink using social media to the requirement to have a digital id . Such eIDs are already required for entry to sure authorities on-line companies. Now, nevertheless, this digital ID will change into nearly obligatory. At least on the web.
The digital ID playing cards have been up to date a number of instances over time. For instance, fingerprinting grew to become obligatory in 2020. Now, it has been introduced that residents can request digital variations of their ID playing cards, which can be utilized on smartphones, by November 2026. These new ID playing cards shall be accepted not just for identification, but additionally for on-line authentication, digital signatures, and journey inside the Schengen space.
While Interior Minister Bernard Quintin emphasizes that using the digital ID ought to stay optionally available, the dialogue surrounding the introduction of a requirement for social media use may rapidly render this assertion out of date. The new Minister for Public Modernization, Vanessa Matz, has proposed making the digital ID obligatory for social media use in a coverage doc. This thought was supported by Caroline Gennez, the present Flemish Minister for Welfare. Naturally, this was carried out underneath the guise of defending kids and younger folks.
The introduction of obligatory digital identification would make on-line anonymity not possible for residents of all ages. This couldn’t solely result in elevated authorities surveillance but additionally make folks really feel much more restricted of their freedom of expression than they already are.
Behind these plans, a bigger technique is rising that extends far past Belgium. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has been selling ideas of digital identification for years as a supposed path to higher safety and effectivity. In actuality, this quantities to nothing lower than a scientific erosion of privateness. The arguments of safety and effectivity in the end serve solely as a pretext for the systematic disempowerment of the person.
