![helbing3_Matthew HorwoodGetty Images_coronavirusfacialrecognition](https://webapi.project-syndicate.org/library/b70edd6b6dbe88720b30cbca17cd48ad.2-1-medium.1.jpg)
The False Promise of Digital ID
Rather than submitting to a data-driven and AI-directed system that relies on surveillance and control through digital IDs, we should create more participatory frameworks that harness the power of civil society. Such approaches form the backbone of a strategy that uses human sociability to achieve humankind’s collective goals.
ZÜRICH – Proponents of digital identification see the COVID-19 pandemic as a once-in-a-century opportunity, with a potential “jackpot market” of nearly eight billion people. In these dangerous times, using digital IDs to help control the spread of the virus and eventually to manage the distribution of a vaccine is often deemed appropriate and necessary.