[flagged]
In what way is this a vote for socialism?
They don't trust private companies, and they'd rather have their government to manage their IDs. As explained in the article.
Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
41–50 of 423 posts
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Taxes? You fill in the form in on your computer and can file it digitally. And if you print it it‘s encoded in a format similar to QR codes. Tax offices are fully digital since at least 10 years. If you file with paper it‘s scanned and destroyed. Your local tax office receives all the documents digitally. Of course this could vary by canton.
> Of course this could vary by canton. It does. Zurich still sends me a thick envelope with the 20 pages and tells me to throw away 90% of it if I do my taxes digitally.
I only got this the first time after moving here, after that they switched to just sending me the access code.
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
> “Facial coverings are contrary to our value system,” Wobmann told Swiss public television, SRF. He said there were now clear rules in place so that “people know that in our country, you show your face in public”. I wonder if this reasoning will be re-examined due to widespread good faith face mask use during the pandemic.
Wearing a mask for health reasons is still allowed. That being said, laws prohibiting what you may wear, targeted specifically against a religion, are concerning.
Conserning to some, liberating to many
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#44“It is key for Switzerland to catch up with other countries when it comes digitalisation“ Why?
Imagine if you had to print a paper form and mail or deliver it to the local Government for even the simplest of administrative tasks. Because that is life in Switzerland.
Well yes, but lots of Switzerland is rural, and dropping off paperwork is no more bother than picking up a loaf of bread. Lots of us like seeing our neighbor, who happens to also be our greffe communal.
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Taxes? You fill in the form in on your computer and can file it digitally. And if you print it it‘s encoded in a format similar to QR codes. Tax offices are fully digital since at least 10 years. If you file with paper it‘s scanned and destroyed. Your local tax office receives all the documents digitally. Of course this could vary by canton.
> Of course this could vary by canton. It does. Zurich still sends me a thick envelope with the 20 pages and tells me to throw away 90% of it if I do my taxes digitally.
I actually double checked.
What they send out (and yes, in the canton of Zürich) is two A3 pages (printed on both sides) a form informing you how to extend sending it in and, most ironically, an A4 page informing, why they send out less paperwork
It's right in front of me. So feel free to prove me wrong.
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Taxes? You fill in the form in on your computer and can file it digitally. And if you print it it‘s encoded in a format similar to QR codes. Tax offices are fully digital since at least 10 years. If you file with paper it‘s scanned and destroyed. Your local tax office receives all the documents digitally. Of course this could vary by canton.
> Of course this could vary by canton. It does. Zurich still sends me a thick envelope with the 20 pages and tells me to throw away 90% of it if I do my taxes digitally.
You should check your envelope again. If you did your taxes online in the past you don’t even have to snail mail the receipts anymore, they accept digital copies/photographs now.
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#47This is bad populism.
It's understandable people fear Google/FB etc., but an entity contracted by the state to do digital ID services is not going to be selling your phone number if doing so would put them out of business and land them in jail.
Sadly, the notion of basic digital ID would be very useful for so many things and maybe even help with privacy if content providers switched to this kind id vs. social logins.
Ironically, these 'government IDs' may be a vanguard in the fight for privacy because they establish a privacy-based alternative that doesn't currently exist.
(Edit) There are already private institutions that manage ID data (Finance, Health) no our behalf and generally we are not concerned. (Although VISA is owned by banks and that's a concern). In Canada, they have temporarily allocated ID literally to the banking system - you can login to the gov. tax portal using your banking login. So, de-facto, the banks provide ID services to gov. already.
It's irrational populism. ID services are sensitive obviously, but governments already deal in such types of sensitive information and there's no reason 3rd parties can't manage those services with the right kind of oversight.
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#48“It is key for Switzerland to catch up with other countries when it comes digitalisation“ Why?
Because person hours are expensive (because food is expensive because person hours are expensive because socialized health care is expensive). Every process that currently involves reams of paperwork (like the ~20 page tax declaration that is due this month - yikes) that can be done digitally instead saves the taxpayer or customer money. And the Swiss do like their money.
Tax declaration are the cantons (state) responsibility . Some are further than others. I filled out my first declaration some 14 years ago via a web platform.
Most everything being decentralized maybe makes nationwide digitalization slower, but that is crucial aspect of the political system.
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#49Switzerland has this in its constitution: Article 13: Right to Privacy 1. All persons have the right to receive respect for their private and family life, home, and secrecy of the mails and telecommunications. 2. All persons have the right to be protected against the abuse of personal data. Also the constitution can be only changed by voting.
Plenty of countries (if not most) have this or something similar, anchored in either their constitution or at least in regular law. This should not come as a surprise either, since it's essentially the implementation of Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Where it usually goes wrong, is with the interpretation of the words "privacy" and "communication". Also, governments have a habit of defining…
Notably the US has no right to privacy, except a very vague implied right which as far as I know has only been invoked in the context of abortion.
Re: Switzerland votes against electronic ID system provided by private companies
#50They are also incredibly xenophobic (i.e. Japanese levels).