To be announced later this month, apparently…

Under the Cabinet Office scheme people wanting to apply for services ranging from benefits and tax credits to passports will be able to access them using their logins for websites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Under the proposals, members of the public will be able to use log-ins from “trusted” organisations, chosen to appeal to as wide a demographic as possible, to access Government services grouped together on a single website called Gov.uk.
A user logging onto the site by phone would be asked to choose to select from a logo from one of the trusted brands, such as Facebook.
The user would then have to enter a Facebook user name and password, with further verification provided by the fact that he is using his own mobile phone number, as well as GPS location and additional security questions.

Is there any way this could go wrong?

Of course.

so you have to set up an account with a company that stores its data in a non-uk jurisdiction where there are no UK regulated controls on what happens with the data in order to be able to prove who you are and get benefits from the UK governement.

genius.

Send me all of your trusted logins and I will keep them safe for you. Can also provide this service for your bank details. I will need your mothers maiden name as a secure password to make sure no-one else can access them and there is the standard $50 admin fee sent to me via Western Union

And then when the inevitable happens NuLab2, by then back in office, use the fiasco as a justification for the reintroduction of ‘proper’ state ID…

OMG!! WTF!!!! LOL!!!!!

this is what happens when Business gets access to Leaders – such as Blair’s NHS Spine project…

Ah come on guys. The government for once show a little bit of initiative on keeping up with the times and all we can do is complain. I assume there will be alternative options for those with tinfoil hats who believe that google, bill gates and facebook are all in a conspiracy with government to harvest their brain cells to to create an alien race…

However for the vast majority of people this would provide an easier way to authenticate to the services. The government already provides its “Government Gateway” which is about as un-userfriendly as authentication can be and driven by some security obsessed IT type.

Given the hassle my lad had trying to prove who he was and how old he was without a passport, a simpler way of confirming who and how old is to be welcomed.

That proposal seems remarkably odd, especially given the level of paranoia that pervades government when it comes to the security of personal information. I strongly suspect it’ll get shot down by the security people at GCHQ who regulate and accredit this stuff.

That said I suppose it depends what the additional verification requirements are, where and how they are stored etc…

It’s odd because it’s inaccurate.