Nota di benvenuto sulle infrastrutture digitali da parte del Consigliere federale Beat Jans
Il Consigliere federale Beat Jans, capo del Dipartimento federale di giustizia e polizia (DFGP), ha aperto il Digital Wallets Panel insieme al direttore generale di Digitalswitzerland Stefan Metzger mercoledì 17 gennaio 2024 presso il Digitalswitzerland-Village di Davos con una nota di benvenuto (disponibile solo in versione inglese).
Good morning Mr. Metzger, thank you for your warm introduction.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am delighted and honored to welcome you to the second day of digitalwitzerland’s program here in Davos.
Today’s topic is Digital Infrastructures. Infrastructures have played an important role for quite some time. Not far from here, on Septimer Pass, you can still find remains of a Roman road that dates back more than 2000 years – clearly an early version of an infrastructure.
However, we are not here to discuss old stones, we are here to learn more about digital infrastructures and more specifically on electronic identities and the wallets in which we will hold them.
My Ministry, the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police, is responsible for issuing identity cards and passports for Swiss citizens and residence permit cards for non-Swiss residents. The Swiss parliament has mandated the government to develop a state-issued electronic identity. You may know that my government, the Swiss Federal Council, has adopted the according legislative Proposal in November last year. The parliamentary debate on the draft law will start in the coming days.
Let me mention that the constitutional basis for the new E-ID-law is the same as the one for physical infrastructures such as highways or railroads. This shows that my reference to the Roman road was actually not that far-fetched.
Rolf Rauschenbach, the Information Officer for the E-ID will give you all the details on Switzerland’s E-ID-project later today. What I would like to do here is to highlight the opportunities and challenges that the government sees in connection with the E-ID.
As you may know, the E-ID is not just a technical solution, but a crucial enabler for the digital transformation of public and private services. It allows citizens and residents to prove their identity online in a simple and secure way and to access services and applications that require authentication.
However, the E-ID also presents major challenges: technical, legal, ethical and social challenges. Today, we are called to face and address these challenges. I would like to highlight three of them:
· Firstly: how can we balance the trade-offs between security and privacy on the one hand, and usability and convenience on the other hand? How can we protect our citizens’ data and identity from misuse and fraud, while enabling them to share it with trusted parties when needed? Only if we able to convincingly balance this trade-off, we will have a successful E-ID.
· Secondly: how can we give people the choice and the freedom to decide if and how they want to identify themselves – online and offline? The E-ID must remain voluntary – we do not want the E-ID to become mandatory. The Swiss Government does not want to force anyone into a digital-only world. Nobody should need to own or use a smartphone or any other device. People shall be able to continue their lives in the analogue if they desire so.
· Thirdly: how can we anticipate and prepare for future developments? For developments in which digital identity may be used in conjunction with applications that use artificial intelligence? The crucial question to me seems: Will the E-ID afford greater protection against the dangers of an artificially intelligent world or will it, on the contrary, make us more vulnerable in a universe of machine learning? To me, it is clear: the E-ID must be a tool that protects my identity in a world that becomes more and more digital.
I am sure that the next two sessions will provide quite some insights on how to tackle these issues.
Let me conclude by stating the following:
· My government is committed to providing an E-ID and a trust infrastructure, that are secure, privacy-preserving and useful. We believe that this project is an important opportunity to enhance Switzerland’s digital transformation as a whole.
· My government is committed to providing an E-ID that can be used beyond our national borders. Therefore, events like this one are crucial to laying the basis of interoperability.
· While my government is aware of its unique responsibility as a regulator, as a provider of the trust infrastructure and as an issuer of the E-ID, it is equally aware of the fact that this project will be successful only if other public authorities and private actors join forces. I am looking forward to working with you towards this goal.
Thank you for your attention.
I wish you a successful conference.