The audit found, for example, that one cannot register for unemployment online. On a positive note, residence registration became more user-friendly since 2007.
While state institutions were generally found to provide a significant amount of services electronically, many municipality government websites were inadequate. Both national and municipal websites were described as illogical and nontransparent by the audit. Furthermore, online identification requirements often require an unreasonable amount of documentation.
Even though the residence card will have the same uses of the national ID (digital signature, e-services), the biggest difference between both documents will be that the residence permit will carry fingerprints, so the applicants will have to go to the border guard board service personally.
More than 260.000 people are going to receive the residence permit, counting both people already living in Estonia and new applicants.
Read more: New Estonian ID and Residence Permits Coming in January
Acknowledging that no one really knows the true cost of cyber crime, the ambassador noted a 2009 survey conducted by the McAfee Corporation, which polled 800 chief information officers, and estimated "costs to corporations alone was as much as one trillion dollars." The ambassador added that security has not kept pace with internet service expansion and that "there is the ever present need to add costs to benefits."
Read more: Ambassador Prompts Estonians to Consider Issue of Cyber Offense
The project - partnered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, the Estonian Informatics Centre, and e-Governance Academy - aims to raise citizen participation in politics, as well as to create new opportunities for public administration and the private sector.