eID referendum: citizens have a choice. The Swiss cantons and the Confederation, too!
General Manager at CloudTrust
Broad introduction of an electronic identity in Switzerland is necessary. It will make life easier by enabling:
- Secure e-Business transactions
- Secure interactions between citizens and governmental organizations at all levels, e.g., eGov portals, electronic patient records
- Processes’ digitalization, such as electronic signatures.
- It’s not just a question of password management!
Basically, a new law is not a MUST, because solutions are already in place today. However, unfortunately, only a few providers today have reached the existing federal certification level issued by the FOPH. Such a federal certification is a sign of trustworthiness for the user, namely the citizen. This certification requires long-term, sustained high-security and privacy levels.
The advantage of the eID referendum is that the discussion advances within the population, outside of expert communities. The pivotal question is whether private companies should manage and distribute the eID, or whether it’s a state mission. Because this is a political and societal process, CloudTrust, as a technology provider, neither makes a recommendation, nor has a preference.
TrustID is available for free to any interested citizen (resident) ( https://my.trustid.ch/ ).
A good example of cooperation between a state organization and private industry is the physical ID card or passport. A similar approach could be applied in the digital world.
As a certified ID provider since November 2019, CloudTrust can address both situations:
- eID managed and delivered by a private provider, or
- eID provided by state actors (as a white label technology provider)