Episode 166 — Digital Identity Systems: Estonia

Data Privacy Detective

For about ten years, Estonia has pioneered a digital ID system for its 1.3 million citizens. Every Estonian receives a digital identity at birth or later. Estonians use this e-ID for a host of interactions with government and the private sector. The e-ID is not guarded zealously like a U.S. Social Security number. Instead, it is a kind of public key, with personal information about the individual held separately and securely.

Is Estonia’s e-ID system helpful or hurtful to individual privacy? This Episode explores Estonia’s ongoing experiment. We consider how the system works and how digital identities can be useful in protecting personal information, increasing convenience, and preventing cybercrime. Here’s the government’s site about its e-ID program - https://e-estonia.com/solutions/e-identity/id-card/ Analyses of Estonia’s e-ID system can be found here:

https://privacyinternational.org/case-study/4737/id-systems-analysed-e-estonia;

https://digitalid.design/docs/CIS_DigitalID_EstoniaCaseStudy_2020.04.pdf

The first 155 episodes of Data Privacy Detective can be found on the feed of the Frost Brown Todd Podcast. You can listen on Apple Podcasts (https://bit.ly/49XRU2k), Spotify (https://bit.ly/49XRU2k), or Soundcloud (https://bit.ly/3T8EWrw).