This is the country we are living in....

Speakers include: @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social @silviahedley.bsky.social @margchee.bsky.social Andreas Hackl @deryaozkul.bsky.social @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social Sanjay Sharma, Kim Snooks

Given that people is asking me for the numbers, here the table provided by UKRI:

Today, I've been watching Keir Starmer and the Labour Party's pro-Digital ID Twitter campaign implode. 'Reverse Midas touch' really does capture it. It's like they are gunning to lose the next election. And they've managed to fuel BOTH right-wing AND left-wing conspiracy theories. Truly remarkable.

Wtaf? "Software giant Palantir snubs ‘undemocratic’ digital ID scheme". This would actually be funny if we weren't living in an emergent technofascism powered by the likes of Palantir... archive.ph/MncRd

Public criticism of compulsory ID has a long history in the UK, which predates the advent of Twitter/X (in fact, it even predates the Blair-era controversy over biometric ID cards in the early 2000s). Also, criticism of the new scheme is coming from BOTH the right & left of the political spectrum.

As Keir Starmer anounces a new Digital ID scheme, we revisit an article from the summer, warning that past attempts at introducing a national identity card point to a moral minefield without necessarily helping tackle irregular immigration. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

As I said on BBC this morning, the Britcard isn't a carefully thought-out digitization strategy; it's a reactive policy response to right-wing populism & moral panic about asylum seekers. A piece from earlier this year w/ @margchee.bsky.social & @empo11on.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

You may already have seen her on the BBC this morning, but journalists and policy experts looking for experts on digital ID cards - you need to speak to @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social This is a post from earlier this year blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

It appears the UK Labor government is moving forward with plans to introduce digital IDs to address complex migration challenges www.ft.com/content/f2b3... In July, @margchee.bsky.social, @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social and I wrote about the challenges that lie ahead blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

This is a billionaire-funded Tony Blair lobbying project being funnelled unchallenged onto the front page of a national newspaper. 1/

Can't believe that Silicon Valley just brought back layaway and rebranded it as "fintech".

New paper out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social on #humanitarian #data #sovereignty💥 doi.org/10.1177/2053... My deep gratitude to @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social, @margchee.bsky.social, @emryss.bsky.social, Quito Tsui, Paul Currion, @sophiebt.bsky.social, and @massimomarelli.bsky.social for the inspiration ❤️

New blog based on our research with humanitarians navigating the current funding crisis. What should the future of humanitarian data management look like? caribou.global/publications... @emryss.bsky.social

Our latest on Labour's ill-advised "Britcard" blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp... with @empo11on.bsky.social and @margchee.bsky.social

Excited to share my latest article. It examines how humanitarian data came to be repurposed for citizenship determination, focusing on an often-overlooked form of biometric border-making: the digitized mechanisms for keeping citizens out of refugee camps. tinyurl.com/bde5a6dw

With @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social, I've been exploring the intersection of AI governance & #digitalidentity. In an essay in the new #openaccess 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 collection, we reflect on how companies like @world.org are resignifying #biometrics in the AI age libraopen.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/...

Very excited to be part of this volume, “Reimagining AI for Environmental Justice and Creativity,” with Aaron Martin @empo11on.bsky.social. Where we discuss tech companies like 'World' and the quest of biometrically authenticated 'personhood' in the AI age. doi.org/10.18130/03d...

How do grassroots movements resist state collapse in Sudan? Raga Makawi, Co-Director of Studies for the 2025 Sudan & South Sudan Course, shares reflections on civic politics and community resilience. Watch full video: youtu.be/YK4IhRGtC8U More info: courses.riftvalley.net

Proud to announce the launch of our report on the challenges that refugees and migrants in Kenya face accessing state-issued identification, generously funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and co-produced w/ Haki na Sheria w/ support from Caribou Digital www.cariboudigital.net/publication/...

For those of you not able to attend in person but who would like to listen to the recording, here is a link: soundcloud.com/qmulofficial... It was a beautiful tribute to Elleni Centime Zeleke w/ comments from Layli Uddin, Safia Aidid, Richard Drayton, Chris Moffat, & Alden Young. Please listen/share

For those of you in the London are: My colleague Layli Uddin & I are hosting an event in honor of the memory/legacy of Elleni Centime Zeleke, author of the trailblazing book, Ethiopia in Theory, on 27 February: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dialogue-e...

Sharing a post from late last year with @empo11on.bsky.social. Our reflections attending the Biometrics Institute Congress, about how the biometrics sector is grappling with 'AI'... medium.com/caribou-digi...

The CBP One app is dead within hours of the start of the Trump administration. apnews.com/article/trum...

Please join me; Yussuf Bashir (Haki na Sheria Institute); Laura Bingham (Temple University's Institute for Law, Innovation & Technology); and Nora Naji this Wed, Jan 15th at 2pm GMT as we discuss digital ID, humanitarian tech, & the profound identification challenges facing migrants/refugees.