Would you use a government-provided electronic ID if it were available? What do you see as the pros and cons of this technology?

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I analyse the risks, opportunities and concrete impacts of artificial intelligence on society and everyday life. Since joining SWI swissinfo.ch in 2020, I translate the complexity of science and technology into stories that speak to a global audience. Born in Milan to an Italian-Egyptian family, I have been passionate about knowledge and writing since childhood. I worked between Milan and Paris as a multilingual editor for technology magazines before transitioning to international journalism with SWI swissinfo.ch.

Italiano

Voi usereste un’identità elettronica fornita dal governo? Quali sono i vantaggi e gli svantaggi? Original

Swiss voters will decide on March 7 whether to go ahead with a law that provides the basis for issuing electronic IDs, or e-IDs, to all citizens and residents. An eID allows for access to multiple websites and online services through a single login.

The referendum was launched because opponents of the law feel that the eID proposal puts too much power in the hands of private companies. Supporters of the law say now is the time for Switzerland to get up to speed in the digital world with the issuing of eIDs.

Let us know below what you think!

From the article The Swiss eID law has flaws, but is another version worth the wait?

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

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Anonymous 2021-08-03 07:21

With Russia and China hacking governmental entities ad wish?
Hell NO!

andrea-ulrich-namobo 2021-05-15 10:57

What would you use it for?
We can no longer afford to travel so we are not even using our paper IDs for anything other than to show it to the DLH delivery man when he brings us a package.

gopeli3730 2021-05-05 11:58

We would not. We already stopped voting and cancelled our social media, TV and news paper subscription. We no longer travel. Let everyone else die of the virus than risk our lives going somewhere.

How could an ID make any difference? We just read Swiss info once a month and it is good enough. No need for people. We're now looking into giving up our cancer research and medical surgery jobs and buying a farm where we and the kids can live away from all the infected people. The plan is to move away in the next 6 months away from big cities and infected people.

kal@sovereignimage.com 2021-03-08 19:28

Reading the article about the failed vote suggests that people do not trust industry with their private information nor government with with the capability delivery system that will work. Meanwhile, having a single point of logging on is a single point of failure and attack ... seems very risky. I agree that something like a digital certificate makes sense as long as it is tightly controlled by the person who it describes and that someone you trust attests that the certificate really represents that person. But how do you get government and industry to work together on solving the problem?

Anonymous 2021-03-07 22:09

As a non voter I would have voted no if I could.

I disagree with a Government promoting something that is seen as the 'good of the country' or 'good of the citizens' and then outsource it their 'mates' who get all the money for it. I've seen this happen in my homeland. Money for friends of the politicians.

Swiss politicians seem to think it will 'save' Switzerland but I'm still aghast at the lack of modern use of technology we currently have by companies now, let alone 'somehow jumping into the future'!!

As another commentator pointed at, they can do everything now and properly has been for years without this 'special ' ID!

The place I notice the lack of the current technology being used is with the online portals by the Governments themselves.

My homeland uses something that works to try and bring taxation, Social Services together, but I find it somewhat fragmented because some of the 'government departments' are outsourced, and while they try to make it look seamless it is not.

I had trouble signing up for the BAG notifications for the covid updates, so I doubt that the Swiss government is going to improve things ?% by an E-ID!! If they cannot do it as efficiently as they can now, well it is just trying to say 'look how good we are'.

Also, for me personally, the loss shows how dumb the initiators are. Sorry,,, but my opinion is.. if this was really what the Government wanted - for citizens, then they should have been smart enough to know from the onset that the Citizens would reject (60+% to.. nice) but they tried to bluff it through and not everyone is so dumb and this shows they are not in tune with their Citizens that they supposedly 'care about'.

marco brenni 2021-02-25 09:24

The following contribution has been automatically translated from IT.

I am not interested in this electronic modification (the umpteenth!) partly entrusted even to private individuals! If it continues at this pace, we will really become the computerized society to Orwell's "Big Brother".

Non mi interessa questa modifica elettronica (l'ennesima!) in parte affidata addirittura a privati! Se si continua di questo passo, diventeremo veramente la società computerizzata alla "Big Brother" di Orwell.

max 2021-02-24 23:11

The basic concept of the e-ID is clear which is the reason why I voted in favor. Identity certificates for internet sites have been successfully used ever since Verisign started their issuance in the 1990s. We have yet to see what kind of personal data will be included in this e-ID. Could be less than the trove our Swisscom eventually accumulated in their phone directories and sold to many advertisers. The government wants to enhance the efficiency of public administrations through electronic platforms and for that purpose a personal certificate could be useful. To answer the question – yes, I would use it in case of necessity but certainly not for any type of financial transaction. As is the case with all variants of electronic payments, the participation in the electronic identity system is voluntary and everybody can decide whether to use it or not.

Anonymous 2021-02-24 13:36

I have not seen the government promoting the E-ID and the security measures. I suspect they are not fully equipped to issue such an important ID electronically due to lack of skilled resources and knowledge about this topic.

The second obstacle would be the users (the population) who are not experienced enough with Information Technology to properly safeguard and use the E-ID.

On both fronts, Switzerland is NOT READY.

landolt 2021-02-24 12:00

Certainly not! If the BAG who followed fake news re Astra Zeneca vaccine is allowed to refuse to vaccine,with only 612000, 5.5% of population (GB 18% of populaTion!), a pure pro EU influenced decision of course, god help us with more governmental power! That is why we have in CH direct democracy, because the Swiss people does not fully trust politicians.

svhk 2021-02-23 18:05

This will not be a full digital ID (to, e.g., cross borders) but will resemble more an official "digital signature" allowing access to various digital services. At this particular point, it is difficult to see what advantages the e-ID will bring against existing systems except, in the long run, unifying them. The objection to private companies executing this solution may have some justification; but the BR and various governmental offices have demonstrated that setting up IT systems is not their strongest point (see Swiss Covid as latest instance).
On the other hand, the development is in tune with the times and will have to come sometime, so why not start setting it up now.

PASSERBY2 2021-02-23 11:10

Secret electronic information commonly gets leaked online in massive numbers. Currently it is financial data like credit card numbers, and it is very damaging but in principle solvable: credit card numbers are changed. However, if an ID would include biometric information, it will be leaked but cannot be changed - one cannot change peoples fingerprints, faces, DNA etc. The result will be a world where criminals can freely identify anybody, anywhere.

LoL 2021-02-23 10:35

No, I can order any document online by post without any special ID card. I can pay and order stuff from online shops without any special ID, so for me it does nothing. I am okay with progress but how we can trust private profit concern companies to have access and transfer to us the most sensitive data about us and believe that they won't use it... I simply don't believe there would be no leakage and why government not taking it up to them. We already have Serafe or before Billag (great now I pay more for the same thing with Serafe than used to with Billag, considering nearly every magazine requires subscription, have ads, podcasts and etc. It is not Wikipedia style, it is still a business, I don't remember seeing anyone with actually tv cable in use but we still all pay for it), private sector is not efficient in doing government job and such collaborations evokes only negative association at least for me. Data about us is now very valuable as a group and I don't believe such IDs going to bring any help as we can do all the same thing as they propose and we already have swiss online Id card of some kind and clearly not enough people were willing to use it. How about doing something about our health books so we can go to different doctors and they all can see our history rather than worry about online shopping and ordering stuff online we already can do without such ID

Jack53 2021-02-22 22:51

The following contribution has been automatically translated from IT.

Absolutely not, delegating our data to private individuals is dangerous, there is a high risk of hacking.
And anyway it is a way to file and further control all citizens.
Whether it is convenient or not matters little, when it comes to their privacy and data security, there can be no compromise.

No assoluto, delegare ai privati i nostri dati è pericoloso, c'è un alto rischio di hackeraggio.
E comunque è un modo per schedare e controllare ulteriormente tutti i cittadini.
Che sia conveniente o meno poco importa, quando c'è di mezzo la propria privacy e la sicurezza dei dati, non ci possono essere compromessi.

Sara Ibrahim SWI SWISSINFO.CH 2021-02-22 11:09

The following contribution has been automatically translated from IT.

Yet many experts - even within the committee opposing the current federal eID law in Switzerland - argue that in today's digitized world, an officially state-certified electronic identity would play a central role, particularly in sensitive processes such as the digitization of health data, online voting and elections, tax invoices and online banking.
If an all-state eID were available - keeping the private sector out of the picture, as is the case in Estonia - would you be less skeptical?

Eppure molti esperti - persino all'interno del comitato che si oppone all'attuale legge federale sull'eID in Svizzera - sostengono che nel mondo digitalizzato di oggi un'identità elettronica certificata ufficialmente dallo Stato giocherebbe un ruolo centrale in particolare nei processi sensibili come la digitalizzazione dei dati sanitari, il voto e le elezioni online, le fatture fiscali e l'online banking.
Se fosse disponibile un'eID completamente statale - che tiene fuori dai giochi il settore privato, come accade in Estonia - sareste meno scettici?

Cor1 2021-02-22 09:04

The following contribution has been automatically translated from IT.

in my opinion it is something quite useless and expensive. we are already too controlled and this is a continuous being controlled even more is useless to make us believe the sun for the moon ...

secondo me è una cosa parecchio inutile e costosa. siamo già troppo controllati e questo è un continuo essere controllati ancora di più è inutile farci credere il sole per la luna...

marco brenni 2021-02-20 10:23

The following contribution has been automatically translated from IT.

Absolutely NOT! We are already too much robotized and then it is the State that must maintain the exclusive right to issue and certify identity documents. Delegate this in part to private individuals? Are you kidding me? A big NO as a house!

Assolutamente NO! Siamo già fin troppo robotizzati e poi è lo Stato che deve mantenere l'esclusiva di emanare e certificare i documenti identitari. Delegare in parte ai privati pure questo? Ma scherziamo? Un bel NO grande come una casa!