Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to bring in a so-called "digital citizen passport" if he is elected as the UK's prime minister.

He has also swiped a policy pledge previously trumpeted by the Liberal Democrats by promising a "digital bill of rights" under a Corbyn-led government.

"With the rapid advances in digital technology, data and information can become sources of inequality and exploitation," Corbyn said on Tuesday morning during the launch of his "digital democracy" manifesto. "It hasn't been easy to ensure democracy always takes place online. This is why our manifesto we're launching today seeks to democratise the Internet."

Chief among Corbyn's promises was the desire to see high-speed broadband pumped into every household and business in the UK, and to ensure all publicly-funded software and hardware will be released under an open source licence.

On broadband, a briefing note from Corbyn's team said:

The maximum cost for nationwide FTTP [fibre-to-the-premises] coverage is £25 billion, spread over a number of years, which fits easily inside the £500 billion investment commitment already announced. £13 billion would provide 80 percent coverage (Analysis Mason, “The costs of deploying next-generation fibre-optic infrastructure,” 2008). This investment could be funded at minimal cost to the taxpayer and with the most rapid deployment possible, using the National Investment Bank and relying on all-time low government borrowing costs. The provision of a valuable national asset would produce significant returns over time, both in economic growth and additional tax revenues arising from growth, far outweighing the initial investment. Building on existing fibre-optic roll-out schemes would reduce the total costs below this headline figure, and building on current practice we would look to schedule installations where the demand was urgent, such as to existing tech clusters.

He claimed that—despite the government's ongoing, if delayed, investment in faster Internet connections, people across the UK were continuing to struggle to access decent broadband speeds. "In today’s connected age, this inequality of coverage is not trivial—it is a barrier to learning and to business opportunities, and it is a source of social and economic isolation."

Corbyn added:

To improve connectivity we want to see a Universal Service Network that will deliver high speed broadband and mobile connectivity for every household, company and organisation in Britain from the inner city neighborhoods to the remotest rural community. The cost of this is estimated at £25 billion, and would be covered by our National Investment Bank.

The Tory government recently said, as part of its draft Digital Economy Bill, that it would bring in a universal service obligation allowing subscribers to demand minimum speeds of at least 10Mbps as of 2020. But the plan hasn't been entirely welcomed by ISPs who don't want to be saddled with the potential costs of a USO.

Ars sought comment from the Internet Service Providers' Association—a lobby group representing many telcos in the UK, including BT, TalkTalk, and Sky.

"There are a number of interesting policy suggestions in the manifesto, including a proposed Digital Bill of Rights to protect civil liberties and the promotion of digital skills, but more information is required over a high speed broadband Universal Service Network," said ISPA chair James Blessing. He added:

ISPA members are already rolling out superfast broadband nationally and locally across the UK that covers over 95 percent of the country using a range of technologies. Industry has led this transformation, and alongside public funding in harder-to-reach areas, speeds have risen significantly from 3.8 Mbps in 2006 to 28 Mbps today. We call on policymakers to focus on reforming regulations and barriers to rollout to make it easier for companies to roll out broadband.

Corbyn claimed that his campaign was "harnessing the advances of new technology to organise political campaigning like we've never seen before."

He added: "Labour under my leadership will utilise the advances of digital technology to mobilise the most visible general election campaign ever. There is also a clear need for more online democracy and our manifesto today sets out how Labour would democratise the Internet in order to rebuild and transform Britain, so that no one and no community is left behind."

But privacy campaigners are likely to react negatively to at least one of Corbyn's pledges. He said during his speech that his team was "interested in the idea of developing a voluntary scheme that provides British citizens with a secure and portable identity for their online activities. The Digital Citizen Passport will be used when interacting with public services like health, welfare, education and housing."

However, Corbyn—who is currently fighting Owen Smith to be re-elected leader of the Labour party—didn't once mention how such data would be safeguarded under such a scheme, which sounds suspiciously similar to the previous Labour government's scrapped ID card plan.