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TALLINN,
Estonia The centuries-old city center here looks quaintly
antique, with well-worn cobbled streets lined by medieval buildings
at nearly every turn.
But the people have fully embraced the digital world, enthusiastically
adopting public and private online services offering a
snapshot of a society that lives first and foremost online.
Estonians, using a national identity card embedded with a microchip, gain access to some 4,000 services, including banking, business registration and even fishing licenses. They review medical records and order prescriptions on smartphones. Almost everyone files taxes on the web within minutes, and about a third of voters now cast their ballots online.
While
Europe and the United States debate the role of technology in
peoples daily lives, Estonia has welcomed it as a fact of
life, largely shooing away concerns about data privacy that have
become hot-button issues elsewhere. In the last 23 years, Estonia,
a Baltic country, has transformed from being a member of the Soviet
bloc to one of the most connected countries, using technology
built primarily within its borders.
The rest of the world particularly Europe has taken
notice. The countrys former prime minister, Andrus Ansip,
has been tapped to become the new European Commission vice president
in charge of Europes digital future. If he is confirmed
for the job by Europes lawmakers, he will face pressure
to improve online privacy and give people greater control over
their information, which stands somewhat at odds with Estonias
approach to digital services.
During
a three-hour nomination hearing in Brussels on Monday, Mr. Ansip
trumpeted his support for Europes privacy agenda.
We have to protect everyones privacy, he said.
Trust is a basic principle. If people cant trust e-services,
they will never use them.
But he also pushed the upside of going digital. I know from
personal experience that paperless government can work,
he said.
With
a population of 1.3 million, about the same as in Dallas, Estonia
faces fewer challenges than bigger countries like Britain and
the United States when introducing online services. And while
it remains uncertain whether other countries can follow Estonias
path, it is clear Estonia has little desire to turn back.
Digital services have changed our lives, said Taavi
Roivas, who recently succeeded Mr. Ansip as prime minister. Its
easier to communicate with the state, and theres a lot less
bureaucracy.
The transformation has been made on a small budget. The country spends about 50 million euros, or $63 million, a year on information technology, far from the $700 million spent on HealthCare.gov, the online health insurance marketplace in the United States. Most of the money goes to local companies, some of which began in local research centers started in the Soviet era.
In
large part, Estonias decision to go digital also has been
driven by one basic fact: It had no other choice.
When the Iron Curtain fell, Estonia had few financial resources
and a small population to jump-start its economy. Local policy
makers also soon realized that they could not offer Western-style
services without using new technology, including the Internet,
that could keep government costs at a bare minimum.
Luckily, Estonia was never a rich country, said Priit
Alamae, chief executive of Nortal, a local company that built
much of the technology powering Estonias digital services.
Were like a working-class child and had to earn everything
on merit.
While
Estonias online services have expanded rapidly, the system
still relies on two staples.
All Estonians are issued an identity card at 15, which includes
a microchip that holds personal information and allows access
to government and commercial services. To keep records safe, each
card uses a personal identification number that must be correctly
entered before using the digital offerings. The numbers are much
harder to compromise than signatures and other forms of online
security, analysts say.
Estonia also relies on a government-run technology infrastructure,
called X-Road, that links public and private databases into the
countrys digital services. All personal information is kept
on separate servers and behind distinct security walls of government
agencies, but the system allows the state and businesses like
banks to share data when individuals give consent.
Estonias
willingness to use digital products sets it apart from France
and Germany, where people have objected to keeping data online.
Estonians have embraced the concept. The countrys systems
have recorded few serious security breaches that could test peoples
faith. And many residents say the online services are more secure
and more convenient than traditional methods of dealing with the
government.
Now, about 98 percent of people file their income taxes online
through an automated system that takes roughly five minutes to
complete, said Marek Helm, who leads Estonias tax and customs
authority. That has increased overall tax compliance, cut his
agencys staff in half, to 1,500 employees, and allowed the
government to issue tax refunds within a week.
The
transition to a digital life has come with a few hiccups.
Estonias online medical portal routinely crashed after digital
prescriptions were introduced in 2010 because retirees
the main users of regular prescriptions kept signing into
the system to renew their medication on the day they all received
monthly social security payments. And some local politicians have
voiced concerns that the introduction of Internet voting in 2005
has led to suspicions of election fraud.
But
Estonians largely view the countrys digital services as
the standard way of interacting with the government and local
companies a far cry from the rest of Europe. Citizens are
more concerned about frequent government requests for online information
than they are about privacy, said Siim Sikkut, a technology adviser
to the Estonian government. To prevent people from being bombarded
for information, Estonia passed a law that required the authorities
to ask only once for specific data, like someones date of
birth. That means local agencies and companies are legally obliged
to share basic information when requested, to make it easier for
people to use online services.
If we had a centralized system, it would be a privacy concern,
said Taavi Kotka, Estonias chief information officer, during
a recent walk through the picturesque center of Tallinn. But
nobody has the whole picture. Everything is separate, but connected.
The
country now wants to take its digital services global by signing
up people living outside Europe for so-called e-residency
that would give people anywhere in the world access to Estonias
public and private online services.
The upside, Estonians say, is convenience.
I cant imagine doing things the old-fashioned way,
said Priit Heinla, 27, a project manager for an energy company
who regularly signs documents with digital signatures on computers
or mobile devices.
You dont have to sign a mountain of paperwork,
he said. Its just one signature and youre done.