Digital Reach

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making this an obligatory practice. The first of these cards were
issued in January 2005. By 2009, each Belgian aged 12 or more
(a total of 8.2 million people) will have an electronic identity card.
This amounts to the issuing of two million cards per year, or about
10,000 cards per day.
The main difference from the identity card of the past is the
presence of a chip on the current electronic version. This chip
contains three elements that correspond to the three advantages
or three basic functions that the card has. First of all, the chip
is used to store the same identity data that are featured on the
card itself, as well as the address. Electronic storage of the iden-
tity data on the chip enables electronic transfers. An electronic
transfer is much faster than manually transcribing or typing the
identity data and moreover, it is completely faultless. As a result,
forms can be filled in and sent with just a couple of mouse clicks.
This translates into an important reduction of paperwork for
public services, companies and citizens alike.
The chip also contains an authentication certificate. Citizens,
companies or public servants can use this certificate to authen-
ticate themselves electronically. As it is a highly secured key, the
eID is able to offer a secure access to infinite numbers of data
files and applications.
Finally, the chip also holds a certificate which allows the user
to sign with a digital signature that has the same value of a hand-
written signature. The fact that a contract can now be made or
that an order can now be placed without the contracting parties
having to be physically present naturally makes for a huge gain
in time.
Since the Belgian federal government decided to issue the
card to all of its citizens, more than 400 companies have begun
developing applications for it. The following points briefly
describe a number of applications that were already available
in the first months after the distribution of the eID started in
Belgium:
• Thanks to the eID, citizens can use the site, https://mijn-
, to consult their own identity data stored in
the State Register. In order to do this, they, of course, need to
have a PC connected to the Internet and a card reader. Citizens
also have the opportunity to find out which public servants
have consulted their records and for what reasons
• The eID can be used to sign electronic text documents, mails
and PDF documents. As a matter of fact, the electronic signa-
ture expires as soon as the signed documents are in any way
changed
• The eID enables the sending and receipt of registered mail
through the Internet
• The eID allows citizens to electronically fill in and send in their
tax declaration, by using the website
• In some municipalities, residents in possession of the electronic
identity card can request and obtain certain official documents
from their homes, so that they no longer need to go in person
to the counter in the town hall. These documents include the
certificate of nationality, a certificate regarding the composition
of one’s family and the certificate of residence
• Members of parliament can electronically sign and introduce
laws, decrees and parliamentary questions
• Trust2 is a programme that enables users to decide who is
allowed to use their eID to read, change and/or print an elec-
tronically sent text
• Employers can use their eID to fulfil their social security oblig-
ations electronically. A number of international ICT companies
are implementing the eID in their systems (access to the
company building, access to the computer network, consulta-
tion by staff of their own human resource data such as holidays
and pay).
At the moment, many other eID applications are being developed.
Not only can the eID be used as a key to access computer
networks, it can also function as a key to office buildings. There
is already a number of companies using eID in this way. Municipal
administrations are considering implementing it too. Libraries
want to use the eID as a library pass to allow people to log in
from their homes and reserve and lend books.
Computerizing society
The ongoing computerization taking place both at the state level
and in society as a whole threatens to leave a number of people
out in the cold. Not everybody understands how to work with a
computer and not everybody can afford a PC with an Internet
connection. When people decide to get a PC and connect to the
Internet, they may become discouraged: a lack of knowledge of
the PC or too many security-related problems such as spam,
spyware and viruses can lead to people giving up on computers
altogether. The government faces an important task in seeing to
it that these people are not left behind and that the digital gap is
bridged.
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Peter Vanvelthoven, with a 12 year old teen who can chat safer with a
card reader and an eID