e-Government in Germany

Christoph Engemann discussed how, as Germany moves its social services functions online (for example, unemployment benefits), the government is also shifting greater responsibilities to its citizens.  For example, people receiving health care benefits may be asked to log their daily activities, such as exercise and eating habits.  This information will be used by the government to determine the distribution of health care resources.  Engemann described this as "becoming one's own civil servant." 

As these services are introduced, the government will dole out ID cards for each service, all of which citizens are required to carry on their person at all times.  A lot of people in the audience were surprised by this, and asked how germans have reacted to the government's plans for identity management. Engemann wrote up a short response to these questions after lunch: 

The idea of carrying an ID-Card at all times seems troubling to Americans but is a reality for most Europeans, who seem to be at ease with it. I assume that the difference in perception of these cards stems at least partially from the experience of the people. In Germany, as well as in other states that have a comparably elaborate welfare system, these cards are associated with benefits. Proving your identity is part of proving your eligibilty for health care, education, unemployment insurance and forms of redistribution that individuals benefit from. Furthermore the historical experience of displacement for the large number of people after the first and second world wars, when having the ‘right’ papers could make a fundamental difference, might play a role in this. On the contrary Americans don’t view ID-Cards as about provision and access, rather as about control. The new authentication media that are being introduced in Austria and are about to be introduced in Germany are part of welfare state reforms and are about benefits.

With respect to the problem of identification there is another point that I would like to make - the difference between Identity Management and Authentication.  I like to distinguish between Identity Management and Authentication. The former is about the management of identity data, its federation, enabling anonymity etc, while the latter is about providing the identity-data beforehand. This is where I see the focus of most European E-Government programs: setting up systems and accompanying legislation that enable individuals to authenticate themselves. Governments are trying to do create in cyberspace that they created in physical space roughly 150 years ago: legible people. People that can be held legally responsible for their actions. This means that the state at least ex-post wants to be able to identify participants of transactions – offline as well as online. This is important for commodity exchange, for taxation and customs, for DRM and also for dealing with cyberterrorism and cyberwar.

David Weinberger, Berkman fellow, blogged the talk -- please check out his post for details.