Danes oppose MitID and fear it is similar to China’s Social Credit System

More than 5000 Danes are in a Facebook group opposing MitID which is Denmark’s next generation to the internet-secure login NemID and members repeatedly mention China’s Social Credit System when they argue against MitID, BT writes. 

China’s Social credit system, first announced in 2014, is “an important component of the Socialist market economy system and the social governance system” and aims to reinforce the idea that “keeping trust is glorious and breaking trust is disgraceful,” according to a 2015 government document. Critics say that the system ranks citizens and punishes them with throttled internet speeds and flight bans if the Communist Party deems them untrustworthy.

MitID on the other hand is the ID Danes need when they need to prove who they are, when logging in to online banking, checking annual statements, or signing digitally. MitID will be phased in during 2021 and 2022, and meanwhile, both NemID and MitID will work in parallel.

BT writes that members of the Facebook Group ‘Common Front against MitID’ (Fælles front imod MitID) believe that the upgraded internet-secure login system is something the Devil created and will enhance the state’s monitoring capabilities and powers.

One of the members, Maj-britt Klostergaard Andersen says, “I’m afraid. Is it the start of a point system like in China? Now, for example, I have not been vaccinated, so does that mean that it will hit me negatively in a points system, or that they then shut down my MitID for example? That could be next and what will be in the future?”

When asked what makes her think that the Danish authorities have an interest in creating Chinese conditions and where the fear comes from, Maj-britt Klostergaard Andersen says, “I just ask: How can one trust a Prime Minister who has lied several times about mink? And a health minister who says the vaccines are approved when they are not? I do not trust them and from the outset, I have been pressured to take the vaccine. It’s quite awful.”

BT writes that although MitID and the covid-19 crisis are basically two very different things, there are several posts on the Facebook group where the arguments are built around vaccines, restrictions, and general criticism of the government’s covid-19 handling.

BT has contacted the Danish Digitization Agency, which is behind MitID, and here they reject without hesitation the allegations that both Maj-britt and many other members of the Facebook group have made.

“The Danish Digitization Agency can completely reject that MitID is the beginning of any kind of social points system, just as MitID has no connection to either vaccines or the covid-19 passport. There is no requirement for vaccination or a valid covid-19 passport to get MitID. In this context, MitID is only used to access the covid-19 passport, but does not in itself contain any information on whether the citizen has been vaccinated,” the agency says in a written response. 

About Gregers Møller

Editor-in-Chief • ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok, Thailand

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