RIP IDA – why are GDS so embarrassed?

No need to say it, it goes without saying, it should be obvious to all but,

just in case it isn't obvious to all,

IDA is dead.

IDA, now known as "GOV.UK Verify (RIP)",

is the Cabinet Office Identity Assurance programme.

And it's dead.

Here's a selection of GDS posts and a film in the week leading up to purdah:

24-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Introducing GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Chris Mitchell	Ready for Live: Digital Self-Assessment
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Procurement 2: New identity suppliers to join GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	GOV.UK Verify and Mydex CIC
26-03-2015	Janet Hughes and Stephen Dunn	GOV.UK Verify: Objectives for live
26-03-2015	Mike Bracken	It’s people who make transformation happen
27-03-2015	David Rennie	Working with the private sector to verify identity
27-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Turning the tanker: digital transformation done right
27-03-2015	Mike Beavan	Looking back at the exemplars
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Not the HMRC of old
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Data as a public asset
29-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Government as a Platform: the next phase of digital transformation
29-03-2015	Liam Maxwell	Better for less
30-03-2015	Martha Lane Fox	The Richard Dimbleby Lecture (text) (text) (text)

We've already taken one look at Janet Hughes's 24 March 2015 film, Introducing GOV.UK Verify (RIP). Let's take another.

14 seconds into the film, we see this screen:

Is this your first time verifying your identity?

It's not just in this film but throughout the material on GOV.UK Verify (RIP), the distinction is made between the first time you verify your identity and the subsequent occasions on which you convince some government service that you are who you say you are.

It's an important distinction. Janet Hughes makes the point between 6'40" and 7'40" in her film. The first time involves you in an onerous dialogue with an "identity provider" (ten minutes or so, according to Ms Hughes). Whereas subsequent verifications are quicker (more like one minute) and the principal dialogue is between you and a public service provider.

They're two different activities. The second one is properly called "verification" and the first, "registration".

"Verifying your identity for the first time" is a bit of a mouthful, when you could just say "registering".

The Government Digital Service (GDS) seem to be unwilling to call it by its name but that's what it is. Registration. Click "yes" on the screen above and you enter the process of registering yourself with one of GOV.UK Verify (RIP)'s "identity providers". You put yourself on the register.

There must be a permanent register. That's what makes the process ten times quicker when you later come to make your redundancy claim with the Insolvency Service, for example. But GDS never mention the ID register.

They never mention it but GDS want you on that national identity register (NIR). Farmers are currently claiming their basic payments from the Rural Payment Agency using an entirely paper-based system, ever since GDS's digital system had to be ditched. But they're only allowed to claim if they have first registered with GOV.UK Verify (RIP).

Why are GDS so embarrassed about mentioning the NIR?

There's no point the rest of us guessing the answer. Better if GDS volunteer it. It looks deceitful not to. "Make things open, it makes them better", as they were telling us as recently as 27 March 2015.

Their answer will no doubt be included in the forthcoming GOV.UK Verify (RIP) public information campaign.

RIP IDA – why are GDS so embarrassed?

No need to say it, it goes without saying, it should be obvious to all but,

just in case it isn't obvious to all,

IDA is dead.

IDA, now known as "GOV.UK Verify (RIP)",

is the Cabinet Office Identity Assurance programme.

And it's dead.

Here's a selection of GDS posts and a film in the week leading up to purdah:

24-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Introducing GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Chris Mitchell	Ready for Live: Digital Self-Assessment
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Procurement 2: New identity suppliers to join GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	GOV.UK Verify and Mydex CIC
26-03-2015	Janet Hughes and Stephen Dunn	GOV.UK Verify: Objectives for live
26-03-2015	Mike Bracken	It’s people who make transformation happen
27-03-2015	David Rennie	Working with the private sector to verify identity
27-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Turning the tanker: digital transformation done right
27-03-2015	Mike Beavan	Looking back at the exemplars
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Not the HMRC of old
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Data as a public asset
29-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Government as a Platform: the next phase of digital transformation
29-03-2015	Liam Maxwell	Better for less
30-03-2015	Martha Lane Fox	The Richard Dimbleby Lecture (text) (text) (text)

We've already taken one look at Janet Hughes's 24 March 2015 film, Introducing GOV.UK Verify (RIP). Let's take another.

Kim Jong Un scales North Korea’s highest mountain in brogues

From the Times newspaper, 19 April 2015:

In his latest awe-inspiring ... feat, Kim Jong Un has ... scaled North Korea’s highest mountain, tackling the snow-clad peak in brogues, warmed only by his revolutionary fervour.

AFP/Getty Images

What do we call that?

Agile.

Kim Jong Un scales North Korea’s highest mountain in brogues

From the Times newspaper, 19 April 2015:

In his latest awe-inspiring ... feat, Kim Jong Un has ... scaled North Korea’s highest mountain, tackling the snow-clad peak in brogues, warmed only by his revolutionary fervour.

AFP/Getty Images

What do we call that?

RIP IDA – Verizon assure you: "Your answers help verify you are undefined undefined"

No need to say it, it goes without saying, it should be obvious to all but,

just in case it isn't obvious to all,

IDA is dead.

IDA, now known as "GOV.UK Verify (RIP)",

is the Cabinet Office Identity Assurance programme.

And it's dead.

Here's a selection of GDS posts and a film in the week leading up to purdah:

24-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Introducing GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Chris Mitchell	Ready for Live: Digital Self-Assessment
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Procurement 2: New identity suppliers to join GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	GOV.UK Verify and Mydex CIC
26-03-2015	Janet Hughes and Stephen Dunn	GOV.UK Verify: Objectives for live
26-03-2015	Mike Bracken	It’s people who make transformation happen
27-03-2015	David Rennie	Working with the private sector to verify identity
27-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Turning the tanker: digital transformation done right
27-03-2015	Mike Beavan	Looking back at the exemplars
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Not the HMRC of old
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Data as a public asset
29-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Government as a Platform: the next phase of digital transformation
29-03-2015	Liam Maxwell	Better for less
30-03-2015	Martha Lane Fox	The Richard Dimbleby Lecture (text) (text) (text)

If there's a tricky job facing the Government Digital Service (GDS), we were saying, or indeed an impossible job, what do they do? Call for Janet Hughes. Let's take a look at her in action, on film on 24 March 2015, Introducing GOV.UK Verify (RIP).

Ms Hughes's film is 8'05" long. Between about 5'55" and 6'13" we see these three screens:

First Verizon ask you to confirm your bank account details ...

... then Verizon ask you to confirm your gas supplier ...

... and finally Verizon ask you to confirm some electoral roll information.

Nonsense
In each case, the Verizon screen says:

Your answers help verify you are undefined undefined.

This is nonsense. It's not Janet Hughes's fault. It's Verizon's. That's the best they could come up with. Their lamentable inattention to detail is supposed somehow to inspire confidence in 60 million Brits – come to Verizon, the people you can trust with your personal information.

The illusion of choice 1
On each screen, Verizon tell us that:

This information is from your credit record.

Strange. Verizon is not a UK credit referencing company. How do they know anything about your credit record? Verizon must have got the information from Experian or one of the other UK credit referencing agencies.

What's the point of having Verizon there if the real registration work is being done by Experian or whoever? None.

It gives the illusion of choice. You could choose Verizon as your so-called "identity provider" or Digidentity or Experian. That looks like a choice but it's an illusion. Whichever company you choose, it's really Experian doing the work because it's Experian that has the information, not the US Verizon or the Dutch Digidentity.

Consent 1
Who gave Experian or whoever permission to give that information to Verizon? Arguably you did. It's probably in the fine print of the terms and conditions behind one of the earlier screens in Ms Hughes's presentation. But that is not made clear. I.e. it's not informed consent.

Consent 2
Nor is it willing consent. If you want to renew your driving licence, which is the scenario in Ms Hughes's presentation, you have to use GOV.UK Verify (RIP). Your choice is either get yourself an on-line ID or stop driving. No real choice.

Is that true? You may say "no". Once at about 2'45" and once at about 6'45" Ms Hughes says that nobody will be excluded if they can't register through GOV.UK Verify (RIP). There will be other ways for them to renew their driving licence.

What other ways?

Ask the farmers who are trying to claim their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) money from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). Many of them have a problem registering. The proferred solution is "assisted digital" – get someone else to help them register.

One way and another, the farmers have to register through GOV.UK Verify (RIP), whether they do it themselves or with the help of an agent. If they don't register, they don't get paid. Simples.

Even though GDS's failed Basic Payment Scheme has been discontinued and farmers are now using paper instead, they still have to get themselves a GOV.UK Verify (RIP) account first. Otherwise, no money.

We know that. The National Farmers Union have told us, on 20 March 2015:

RPA abandons online-only BPS application system Apart from registering, farmers will not be asked to enter any further data online now ... Farmers still need to register using the online Rural Payments service to begin the process of making their claim. So far over 80% of farmer businesses have successfully done this. It remains the only way that farmers and their agents can register to make a claim.

Mandatory
GDS are serious about GOV.UK Verify (RIP). They intend it to be mandatory. Don't come away from Ms Hughes's cuddly presentation thinking that it's optional and that it'll never affect you.

If GDS have their way, either your answers will help verify you are undefined undefined or you won't be able to renew your driving licence, it's one or the other. And if you're a farmer, you won't be able to drive legally and you won't be able to farm either.

The illusion of choice 2
Even GDS realise that not everyone can jump through GOV.UK Verify (RIP)'s hoops just at the moment. Success relies on having a credit history. And a passport. And a driving licence. And a telephone number. Not everyone has.

GDS need other ways to verify people's identity. That's why additional "identity providers" are being recruited. GDS can't rely on Experian alone.

That's what Ms Hughes tells us in her presentation. Twice. Once at about 1'15" and once at about 6'00". But it's not true.

It's another illusion. What do we see? We see Verizon relying on credit history. They bring no new information with them to verify your identity. We have noted a GDS propensity to flout their own rules against misleading and deceiving people. This looks prima facie like another instance.

RIP IDA
GDS may have a strategy to increase choice but they can't carry it out. RIP IDA.

RIP IDA – Verizon assure you: "Your answers help verify you are undefined undefined"

No need to say it, it goes without saying, it should be obvious to all but,

just in case it isn't obvious to all,

IDA is dead.

IDA, now known as "GOV.UK Verify (RIP)",

is the Cabinet Office Identity Assurance programme.

And it's dead.

Here's a selection of GDS posts and a film in the week leading up to purdah:

24-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Introducing GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Chris Mitchell	Ready for Live: Digital Self-Assessment
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	Procurement 2: New identity suppliers to join GOV.UK Verify
25-03-2015	Janet Hughes	GOV.UK Verify and Mydex CIC
26-03-2015	Janet Hughes and Stephen Dunn	GOV.UK Verify: Objectives for live
26-03-2015	Mike Bracken	It’s people who make transformation happen
27-03-2015	David Rennie	Working with the private sector to verify identity
27-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Turning the tanker: digital transformation done right
27-03-2015	Mike Beavan	Looking back at the exemplars
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Not the HMRC of old
28-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Data as a public asset
29-03-2015	Mike Bracken	Government as a Platform: the next phase of digital transformation
29-03-2015	Liam Maxwell	Better for less
30-03-2015	Martha Lane Fox	The Richard Dimbleby Lecture (text) (text) (text)

If there's a tricky job facing the Government Digital Service (GDS), we were saying, or indeed an impossible job, what do they do? Call for Janet Hughes. Let's take a look at her in action, on film on 24 March 2015, Introducing GOV.UK Verify (RIP).