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In Lithuania, the majority of mobile providers offer an end-to-end solution to their customers at €1 per month or less. This includes pay-as-you-go plans and is
by casmike 3y ago
In Lithuania, the majority of mobile providers offer an end-to-end solution to their customers at €1 per month or less. This includes pay-as-you-go plans and is likely to reflect the actual cost of this tech used on a large scale, given the significant adoption rate (which I estimate to be more than 5% of the Lithuanian population).
To provide m-signature services, mobile carriers in Lithuania burn a client biometrics-linked key into the SIM cards they provide. This setup allows the use of phones with these special SIM cards for two-factor authentication, which can be considered three-factor with some caveats due to the inclusion of biometrics. The mobile signature technology has good UX where a user, while signing a document, usually enters their tax ID and phone number into a web form. They then react to a prompt on their phone by inputting one of two memorized PINs. It's easy, cheap, and secure.
I also don't believe this technology is subsidized by the government. Though it's challenging to find specific legal language around subsidies for m-signatures, the price of this tech seems to be asymptotically approaching real costs through free market competition. In the Western world, a similar demand for electronic signatures exists. Although the market is currently dominated by costly certificate providers, they seem to lack moat, and it brings hope that this technology may be more widely adopted in places like the UK and US, once prices naturally fall.
Lithuania is N=1 but it's an interesting case study for how mobile signatures can be made user-friendly (or at least "user-reasonable") and mass-adopted.
- dzhiurgis 3y agoAs an Lithuanian expat - I absolutely hate this one and all other gov auth methods. They require to keep a contract with either a bank or telco which is an insane third-party dependency. Fortunately they've introduced smartphone app just few weeks ago where you can finally use your national ID. It has to be pretty new one and I'm not sure how long before it expires (IIRC it used to be a mere 2 years until you need to physically renew), but it's a start. It's probably one of the biggest mission of Lithuanian diaspora. p.s. do you have a source that biometrics are "burned-in" into your SIM card? When I set mine up I don't remember anyone scanning it, just visually verifying. p.p.s. above doesn't work with eSIM (not that any Lithuanian ones are useful, i.e. offering free wifi calling when roaming) p.p.p.s. buying anything online in Lithuania is becoming near impossible - barely anyone offers option paying by card, only by a few selected online banks and no you can't just pay IBAN via some no-name digital bank.