The European Union says its “digital identity wallet” will go into use next year. It’s no accident that this forerunner to the mark of the beast will begin in Europe, the Antichrist’s home turf. In an article sponsored by the global digital security firm Entrust, Wired Magazine called the digital identity wallet, “The most ambitious rollout yet of a comprehensive digital ID system, combining security, compliance, and privacy safeguards for the EU’s 447 million citizens.”
Romana Jerković represents Croatia in the EU Parliament. A member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, she said, “With the European Digital Identity Framework, we want the EU to become the first global region with a governance framework for trusted digital identities. The Digital Wallet will become a reliable, all-in-one identity gateway that puts citizens in full control of their own data and gives them the freedom to decide exactly what information to share, with whom, and when.”
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Putting the citizen in charge of his or her own data sounds great. But this initiative is not about privacy. It’s about government control. According to the EU Parliament, “The new digital identity framework would provide EU citizens with digital access to key public services across EU borders.”
In other words, the EU wants to create universal reliance on its new digital ID app. MEP Jerković, quoted above, went on to say, “From social, financial, medical, and professional data, to contacts and much more, it will make it possible to store personal credentials within a single digital ID. Digital identity is no longer just a nice-to-have feature.”
This will put Europeans’ entire digital lives in the pocket of the central government. It gives the EU easy access to its citizens’ data to use as the government sees fit. Financial records? Check. Social media? Check. Medical data? Check. Job-related data? Check. In a piecemeal fashion, these things are already available to law enforcement if it can show just cause for suspecting a crime. But this will give a whole range of government agencies quick and easy access to everything about the individual. And it will all be wrapped up in one comprehensive package.
According to the EU Parliament, “Using the EU wallet will always be voluntary.” If that’s a relief, remember that in 1936, the United States government promised citizens that the then new Social Security number would not be used for identification. They promised it would only be used as a tool to track earnings histories for determining Social Security benefits. From 1946 to 1972, they printed that message on every card. “For Social Security purposes only. Not for identification.”
Today, even the Social Security Administration admits, “The SSN [Social Security Number] is the single most widely used record identifier for both government and the private sector.” Governments promise limitations, and then run roughshod over them when it becomes convenient to do so.
The EU says the legislation would “ensure that citizens who choose not to adopt it are not treated differently to those who do.” But in the very next paragraph, they say the wallet will allow users “to access goods and public and private services.” If you want access to those things, then you had better “volunteer.”
The EU wallet is not the mark of the beast. But it’s another big step in that direction.
