This is apparently the 2nd time that they vote for it. It was first proposed in 2021, and Swiss voters rejected it. Andy was pointing out in a tweet that governments are going to keep proposing digital ID laws, even after they rejected, until they pass. They are relentless.
This looks like the official government page explaining how Swiss digital IDs will work.
…the e-ID is designed to meet the highest standards of security, data protection, and trustworthiness.
I’m against digital IDs overall, but until I see it being implemented with zero knowledge proof technology, I will never buy such a claim.
To me, this signals that we are not doing enough to reach people and shock their conscience. I guess the silver lining is that for now it’s voluntary, but for how long?
There is so much work to do!
I saw a comment online that perfectly encapsulates the issue with non-mandatory digital ID.
It said, don’t worry, it won’t be mandatory. Just indispensable.
If national and digital IDs are not mandatory but increasingly required for services you want to use, don’t they become in effect mandatory?
I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re trying to get at. Could you please elaborate?
I’m saying that if something is not mandatory, but governments and businesses increasingly demand it to get access to things that didn’t require it before, then people are going to feel like it’s mandatory, even if it technically isn’t.
yes and eventually you will need that id for everything even though its not really important and neccesary and the only reason you would need that is because the government wants surveillance and stuff which ended up causing everything to need it
Well at least the e-ID will be open-source and regularly audited by independent companies. There will be a centralized server but it will only store non-sensitive information such as validity of keys, how many keys were created per user, etc. so the sensitive tasks will be decentralized. The users will need to request a new e-ID each time they change their smartphone. In addition, using an e-ID to prove your identity will only expose the necessary informations. For instance, your address won’t be exposed if an organization only need to know your gender or age. Your exact age wouldn’t be exposed. Only the fact that you have the age required.
