Larry Ellison has been pioneering the push for Britain to introduce digital ID cards into the country and now he explained people behind the cards will be ‘constantly watching’
The man behind the latest push for digital ID cards in the UK has said that Brits “will be on their best behaviour” once introduced. He added that the moves will mean authorities are “constantly watching” everything that is going on.
Sir Keir Starmer announced last week that digital ID cards are set to be introduced in a new scheme to tackle immigration. The move would mean every adult in the UK would need to hold a digital ID card to prove their status in the country.
However, the plans have been incredibly controversial, with a petition calling for the proposals to be scrapped reaching 2 million signatures. But as the government continues to press on with the plans, one of the pioneers of the scheme has let people in on what they can expect.
Speaking at an event in Austin, Texas in 2024, Larry Ellison explained that he would be pushing for as much data to be pooled as possible. This would mean that people and services can be monitored so that rules can be followed and people will be encouraged to regulate their own behaviour.
“Police will be on their best behaviour because we’re constantly watching and recording everything that’s going on,” he said. “Citizens will be on their best behaviour because we’re constantly watching and recording everything that’s going on!”
Ellison is an extremely powerful person, having briefly become the world’s richest person, overtaking Elon Musk earlier this month, the BBC said. Currently, he serves as the Chief Trading Officer of Oracle, a data centre company, whose profits have soared due to growing demand for infrastructure to keep business’ data records.
He continued to hammer in the idea of a potential totalitarian surveillance state, adding that artificial intelligence (AI) will play a big role in the state’s future operations. Speaking at the World Governments Summit earlier this year, Ellison told former Prime Minister Tony Blair he believes that governments should implement AI as quickly as possible.
“The first thing a country needs to do is to unify all of their data, so that it can be used and consumed by the AI model,” he explained. He added that everything private — including healthcare data and health records — should be pooled to help AI grow and “help to understand our country”.
Since then, it has been revealed that Ellison helped Tony Blair lobby the current government to bring in the concept of digital ID cards, meaning his company will rake in millions of pounds. It also was revealed in the Daily Mail that representatives for Oracle his Oxford-based research centre had met with ministers at least 29 times over the course of nine months.
The paper added that several higher-ups in the government, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, have met with bosses at Oracle. Tory MPs have slammed ministers’ plans to bring in the new ID cards, accusing Labour of “cronyism”.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “Tony Blair lobbying Peter Kyle to set up meetings with groups linked to Larry Ellison – now in pole position for the Government’s Digital ID contract – reeks of a blatant conflict of interest. This has all the hallmarks of yet another cosy deal between Labour insiders and powerful vested interests.”
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