4 ms·

What exactly can one do with this digital identity?

by xmpir 12y ago

turnip1979 12y ago
http://e-estonia.com/e-residents/e-residency/ http://e-estonia.com/e-residents/e-residency/
Flavius 12y ago
"get secure access to world-leading digital services" - Which basically means... absolutely nothing?
jkaljundi 12y ago
Some background information here: http://e-estonia.com/taavi-kotka-promises-10-million-e-estonians-2025/ http://e-estonia.com/taavi-kotka-promises-10-million-e-eston... Although the first stages will be more towards foreigners who conduct any business in Estonia, the next stages should allow appearance of new business models and internationally operated activities headquartered and registered in Estonia.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  The Delaware of the world.
  - pdabbadabba 12y ago
    This actually points out a huge challenge for Estonia. As well as the tax advantages, another (and perhaps the primary) reason businesses incorporate in Delaware is their extremely well developed (and business friendly) body of corporate law (the stuff that governs the relationship between shareholders and the corporation, duties of a board of directors, that sort of thing) and a judiciary that is highly efficient in resolving internal corporate disputes. If you study corporations in any law school in the U.S., they will teach you Delaware law, regardless of what state you are actually in. I would love to see Estonia take on this challenge as well, but it will take a long time and concerted effort.
_delirium 12y ago
It's an ID/credential system that government and financial services will be using. So you'll be able to use the ID/credentials to log in and interact with Estonian entities that use it, like banks, tax authority, corporate registry, etc. Vaguely like an OpenID identity, but run by the Estonian government, and with two-factor authentication. It doesn't in itself give you any specific rights, as far as I can tell ("e-residency" is a bit of a marketing term). It just makes it easier to do things that foreigners are theoretically allowed to do, but which aren't currently very easy to do remotely. For example it's already legal for a foreigner to register a company in Estonia, but it's a bit of a hassle if you aren't an Estonian resident; this is supposed to make it easier, because you'll be electronically "in the system" with a proper ID number and login, making it easier for agencies and financial institutions to know how to deal with you. Especially since it's combined with a move towards self-service online portals for government services, so you should be able to log in with this ID and do a lot of things over the internet, instead of visiting civil-service offices. Here (Denmark) all that is also theoretically true—anyone with legitimate business in Denmark can get an ID, and once you have one you can do things like register a company entirely online, self-service, as well as interact with banks and anyone else who implements the "NemID". But in practice the authorities are very suspicious of anyone not living in Denmark trying to get into the system, so almost the only non-residents who do so are Swedes and Germans who either commute cross-border or have frequent business in Denmark.
- jkaljundi 12y ago
  Actually many private entities use it as well. It's an authentication layer anyone can easily implement. Same for digital signatures.

What exactly can one do with this digital identity?

by xmpir 12y ago

What exactly can one do with this digital identity?

turnip1979 12y ago

http://e-estonia.com/e-residents/e-residency/ http://e-estonia.com/e-residents/e-residency/

Flavius 12y ago

"get secure access to world-leading digital services" - Which basically means... absolutely nothing?

jkaljundi 12y ago

Some background information here: http://e-estonia.com/taavi-kotka-promises-10-million-e-estonians-2025/ http://e-estonia.com/taavi-kotka-promises-10-million-e-eston... Although the first stages will be more towards foreigners who conduct any business in Estonia, the next stages should allow appearance of new business models and internationally operated activities headquartered and registered in Estonia.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
The Delaware of the world.
- pdabbadabba 12y ago
  This actually points out a huge challenge for Estonia. As well as the tax advantages, another (and perhaps the primary) reason businesses incorporate in Delaware is their extremely well developed (and business friendly) body of corporate law (the stuff that governs the relationship between shareholders and the corporation, duties of a board of directors, that sort of thing) and a judiciary that is highly efficient in resolving internal corporate disputes. If you study corporations in any law school in the U.S., they will teach you Delaware law, regardless of what state you are actually in. I would love to see Estonia take on this challenge as well, but it will take a long time and concerted effort.

_delirium 12y ago

It's an ID/credential system that government and financial services will be using. So you'll be able to use the ID/credentials to log in and interact with Estonian entities that use it, like banks, tax authority, corporate registry, etc. Vaguely like an OpenID identity, but run by the Estonian government, and with two-factor authentication. It doesn't in itself give you any specific rights, as far as I can tell ("e-residency" is a bit of a marketing term). It just makes it easier to do things that foreigners are theoretically allowed to do, but which aren't currently very easy to do remotely. For example it's already legal for a foreigner to register a company in Estonia, but it's a bit of a hassle if you aren't an Estonian resident; this is supposed to make it easier, because you'll be electronically "in the system" with a proper ID number and login, making it easier for agencies and financial institutions to know how to deal with you. Especially since it's combined with a move towards self-service online portals for government services, so you should be able to log in with this ID and do a lot of things over the internet, instead of visiting civil-service offices. Here (Denmark) all that is also theoretically true—anyone with legitimate business in Denmark can get an ID, and once you have one you can do things like register a company entirely online, self-service, as well as interact with banks and anyone else who implements the "NemID". But in practice the authorities are very suspicious of anyone not living in Denmark trying to get into the system, so almost the only non-residents who do so are Swedes and Germans who either commute cross-border or have frequent business in Denmark.

jkaljundi 12y ago
Actually many private entities use it as well. It's an authentication layer anyone can easily implement. Same for digital signatures.