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Spain has a history of struggling with technology. Even with a very strong tech professional community the country has problems figuring out what to do with tha

Spain has a history of struggling with technology. Even with a very strong tech professional community the country has problems figuring out what to do with that incredible resource. The reasons are economic. To build vacation apartments for locals and foreigners is a big business and the tourism industry is easier to understand and has less risk (until 2020 I guess) than the tech industry. So, politic and industry leaders are not interested in tech. Luckily that is changing with many international companies creating offices in the country to take advantage of the existing talent and, as a side effect, inspiring more locals to work in the tech industry. I love the country's easy tax collection system, and many other public technologies. But, there is still too many misconceptions. I will not get into the historical reasons (also related to agriculture and politics) that made tech difficult to penetrate in Spain. Anti-intellectualism also has been rampant in the arts. Many people equated being educated to understand art (literature, painting, wine tasting) and despise technology. I am hopeful with a new generation growing to understand better technology, and if the current circumstances should have a positive side, to be wary of a tourism focused economy. That police struggles with tech, is just on of many situations that older generations still struggle with a technology that learned to see as a lesser subject than others.

raxxorrax 6y ago
Since western states were mostly hostile to such tech groups, the willingness to cooperate might be inhibited. On the other hand there are quite a few reasons to despise tech in its current state because it is connected to larger predatory companies.
yokaze 6y ago
I think, that doesn't do Spain totally justice, or maybe it depends on the region. Not to say that you are wrong, and a lot certainly can be improved, but a couple of things that impressed me (not being from Spain): - Use of x.509 user certificates to access many government services online. - Getting a government ID right away at the appointment (from the police of all places) - FTTH 600Mbit/s symmetrical. Three days after ordering it. - Digital health record (At least in some regions) But then, Spain has also some of the poorest regions of Europe. And from what I heard, aristocrats own large areas of land.
- pa7x1 6y ago
  The digitalization is work in progress and there are some hit or miss. I'm a Spaniard that currently lives in another (richer) EU country so that gives me some contrast on what is being done well and what needs to be improved. - Use of x.509 is nice but the installation process is tricky for non-experts (the root certificates are not trusted by your OS or browser) and yearly the root certificates need to be changed for reasons that escape my understanding. Usually root certificates should have longer lives, but somehow every year I have to update them. Are they being compromised?!? - The government ID process is a breeze in comparison with other EU countries and quite cheap in comparison, too. The ID card is itself a smart card with your certificates (this is quite common in the EU). The newest ID card also has NFC and can be used to authenticate with government institutions with your phone, quite neat! - FTTH penetration is quite nice, indeed. Internet prices are also reasonably low and internet packs don't have bullshit restrictions on downloads. - One of the quirkiest/funniest examples of a digitalization miss was dealing with the notary on a recent house purchase of a family member. After everything was done we received a copy from the notary with the official documents of the property registration, which included as an annex a printed XML with the GML detailing the limits of the property. When I asked for the digital version of said XML we received a PDF with a scan of said XML. I laughed and desisted in my effort to obtain the .xml file. It shows that things are headed in the right direction but there are some hiccups when the rubber meets the road, in this case the notary or its secretary were technologically illiterate and did not receive any formation on how to handle this type of documents.
  - Hokusai 6y ago
    > yearly the root certificates need to be changed for reasons that escape my understanding It is not needed yearly. The validity is 4 years for "personal" certificates: https://www.sede.fnmt.gob.es/preguntas-frecuentes/problemas-y-dudas/-/asset_publisher/fVZppcBHj0oa/content/1146-que-periodo-de-validez-tiene-un-certificado-fnmt-de-persona-fisica- https://www.sede.fnmt.gob.es/preguntas-frecuentes/problemas-... > (the root certificates are not trusted by your OS or browser You can use the Automatic Configurator. Just run the "Configurador FNMT-RCM.". It should help your less tech savvy acquaintances. > we received a copy from the notary with the official documents of the property registration, which included as an annex a printed XML with the GML detailing the limits of the property. That's funny, but I agree it is a missed opportunity.

raxxorrax 6y ago

Since western states were mostly hostile to such tech groups, the willingness to cooperate might be inhibited. On the other hand there are quite a few reasons to despise tech in its current state because it is connected to larger predatory companies.

yokaze 6y ago

I think, that doesn't do Spain totally justice, or maybe it depends on the region. Not to say that you are wrong, and a lot certainly can be improved, but a couple of things that impressed me (not being from Spain): - Use of x.509 user certificates to access many government services online. - Getting a government ID right away at the appointment (from the police of all places) - FTTH 600Mbit/s symmetrical. Three days after ordering it. - Digital health record (At least in some regions) But then, Spain has also some of the poorest regions of Europe. And from what I heard, aristocrats own large areas of land.

pa7x1 6y ago
The digitalization is work in progress and there are some hit or miss. I'm a Spaniard that currently lives in another (richer) EU country so that gives me some contrast on what is being done well and what needs to be improved. - Use of x.509 is nice but the installation process is tricky for non-experts (the root certificates are not trusted by your OS or browser) and yearly the root certificates need to be changed for reasons that escape my understanding. Usually root certificates should have longer lives, but somehow every year I have to update them. Are they being compromised?!? - The government ID process is a breeze in comparison with other EU countries and quite cheap in comparison, too. The ID card is itself a smart card with your certificates (this is quite common in the EU). The newest ID card also has NFC and can be used to authenticate with government institutions with your phone, quite neat! - FTTH penetration is quite nice, indeed. Internet prices are also reasonably low and internet packs don't have bullshit restrictions on downloads. - One of the quirkiest/funniest examples of a digitalization miss was dealing with the notary on a recent house purchase of a family member. After everything was done we received a copy from the notary with the official documents of the property registration, which included as an annex a printed XML with the GML detailing the limits of the property. When I asked for the digital version of said XML we received a PDF with a scan of said XML. I laughed and desisted in my effort to obtain the .xml file. It shows that things are headed in the right direction but there are some hiccups when the rubber meets the road, in this case the notary or its secretary were technologically illiterate and did not receive any formation on how to handle this type of documents.
- Hokusai 6y ago
  > yearly the root certificates need to be changed for reasons that escape my understanding It is not needed yearly. The validity is 4 years for "personal" certificates: https://www.sede.fnmt.gob.es/preguntas-frecuentes/problemas-y-dudas/-/asset_publisher/fVZppcBHj0oa/content/1146-que-periodo-de-validez-tiene-un-certificado-fnmt-de-persona-fisica- https://www.sede.fnmt.gob.es/preguntas-frecuentes/problemas-... > (the root certificates are not trusted by your OS or browser You can use the Automatic Configurator. Just run the "Configurador FNMT-RCM.". It should help your less tech savvy acquaintances. > we received a copy from the notary with the official documents of the property registration, which included as an annex a printed XML with the GML detailing the limits of the property. That's funny, but I agree it is a missed opportunity.