The Freedom on the Net 2016 index, compiled by Freedom House, has ranked Estonia first in the world.
The Freedom House report, one of the most authoritative reports in the field, investigated 65 geographically dispersed and politically diverse countries, and ranked them according to obstacles to access, limits on content and violations of user rights. These results translated into quantitative (0-70) and qualitative (free, partially free, not free) ratings. Estonia retained the status of “free”, and actually improved its score from last year by one point. There were no government-imposed restrictions or disruptions to internet access during the past years.
Twenty-five years after it regained its freedom from the former Soviet Union, Estonians are celebrating a number of historic events this year along with its emergence as a democratic republic after a half century of Communist rule.
The swearing in this month of the country’s first woman president and the opening of a national museum in the university city of Tartu marked more steps in the tiny country’s evolution since the split with the USSR in 1991. Those steps have included joining the European Union and NATO in 2004 and becoming a respected member of most of the world’s most important organizations, like the United Nations.
How assured digital identities work? How they tie into identity-based technology? What’s the role of Estonia and its e-residency in this?
A small, exclusive conference The Future of Identity, held September 1-3 in Tallinn, will look for answers to these profound questions in digital identity space.
E-government measures increase ease of access to state services and increase transparency. Countries like Estonia have successfully implemented over 150 online services and are updating them constantly. Helping other states develop e-government, however, has not been a simple task for Estonia.
An Estonian citizen decides to create a startup business on a whim. Said person takes their government-issued ID card, inserts it in their computer’s card reader, and jacks into the government’s e-business portal. Using secure technology like e-signatures, this citizen can establish a business in minutes and operate it completely remotely. This is just one example of how Estonian e-services expedite tasks for citizens. To read a comprehensive outline of major e-services, click here.
After 18 months, the country already has 10,000 e-residents.
Manu Sporny, a U.S. citizen and tech entrepreneur, became Estonia’s 10,000th e-resident last week, Motherboard, a Vice publication, reports.
Launched in December 2014, the program is touted by Estonia as the first of its kind in the world and “offers to every world citizen a government-issued digital identity and the opportunity to run a trusted company online, unleashing the world’s entrepreneurial potential.”