Estonia - The most advanced digital society in the world

in #technology7 years ago

I am sure most of us know that Estonia was one of the first countries to embrace Blockchain technology to a larger extend than any other country. They are now looking to upgrade the security infrastructure to the next level.


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There has been a of talk around Estonia being The most advanced digital society in the world. They have actually been named this by Wired. I just love this as I thoroughly believe that Estonia might be the preview of the future of the world as described in a fortune.com article. There is also a very nice video with the history of the country and how they became a tech powerhouse by reinventing themselves using blockchain technology.

Did you know: A group of friends from Estonia built the Skype technology and sold it to Microsoft for US$8.5 Billion


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Bordering Russia, Estonia is the smallest of the former Russian soviet states

I found this part of an article from an article I was reading very interesting.

Given Estonia’s history, the invention of Skype in this country was ironic. While Americans were buying their first cell phones, about a quarter-century ago, Estonians were shut off from the world as an outpost of the Soviet Union. You could easily wait 10 years to be assigned a landline phone. By the time the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, the country was in a time warp. “We did not have anything,” says Gen. Riho Terras, the commander of Estonia’s armed forces, who had been a student activist at the time. The country had to reboot from zero. Terras says each citizen was given the equivalent of 10 euros, or $10.60. “That was it,” he says, laughing. “We started from 10 euros each.”

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In South Africa where I live, we are issued an ID Document which contains a 13 identity number digits. This is really an issue as it is a book which sometimes gets lost and then it takes hours queuing to get this re-issued and then literally weeks and months to receive the book. In Estonia each person is issued an 11 digit Hash code at birth. This number is created by their Blockchain Technology and is used by every aspect of life in future. This is basically a New Technology World version of the social security number. These guys is just in a different class when it comes to technology.

Did you know: This country is just amazing when it comes to forward thinking. They have already in 2000 declare internet access as a basic human right.

Voting system


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The Estonian Voting System has been around since the first online voting was done way back in 2005. They are now looking to upgrade the security aspects of the system , to include end-to-end verifiability as this is the holy grail of any voting systems. You can read the article World's most high-tech voting system to get hacking defenses

Congratulations to Estonia, for being so forward thinking. I am sure you went through some teething problems, but in my opinion you are one of the world's leading technology powerhouses. A lot of countries can learn from you. Anybody from Estonia on the platform? I will love to have a chat about how life really is over there.

Happy Steeming!


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Estonia just made the smart step towards progression into a more faster governance for the public welfare.

I hope one day, that Brazil will do the same here.

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Estonia ist the Best.

really informative for me. thanks for sharing.

This comment has received a sweet gift of Dank Amps in the flavor of 1.74 % upvote from @lovejuice thanks to: @qasimwaqar. Vote for Aggroed!

I didn't know that at all. It's crazy. I'm supposed to be a history fund!! Ignorance at its best. Thanks for such an informative and most interesting post.
I'm looking for votes and followers for my articles. Yours will be appreciated.

yep i'm an e-resident too. i started making a youtube show about it too, but as i've yet to make the next step to go there setup a business and a bank account it's on pause [EDIT] also, i would add because of the x-road there are in a position to adopt or make a crypto currency tied to that really easily! :)

That is some useful information for use who want to live in the 21st century.

The future is finally arriving only 17 years too late! :-\

that's true enough. better late than never my grandad used to say! :)

Thanks for sharing. this video is great. I am hoping to check this out! what a cool idea!

This is some insane stuff. I honestly didn't know that about the guys from Skype. That's some nice money to play with lol.

R100+ Billion here :D

Wow wonderful great Estonia is loving place.

Dear @jacor,
I really your post and after those news about their blockchain innovation for Estonia i got inspired and wrote the big news! hope you like it!

here is the post https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@andreolf/a-country-in-europe-is-about-to-issue-its-own-digital-currency-estonia

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I really appreciate their courage to do so.
We are trying the same, here in Romania, but the truth is that having so many uneducated and religious people, along with such corrupt politicians stops every progress..

All the best. I sincerely hope that you can achieve the same in Romania. All the best.

very interesting hope the experience move to different countries as well @jacor

I hope so as well. Thanks for the comment.

Great article!

Issuing a hash code at birth is the way to go in this digital age. Any country that has not so or is not moving in that direction must have a government with vested interests. However I have not really heard of many countries using blockchains to create identifiers.

On the other hand this could have its disadvantages too. But by using blockchain technology they have taken care of the issue from the beginning.

Estonia seems to be on the right path. If only the model is followed around the world.

Following for more interesting content!

wow i hope it can get this stuff done, being a sall country, they wot experience as much cyber attacks

US is far to big and corrupt to get this sort of digital boockchain democracy nititated by we wiill eventualy have it! It will be very difficult, but yes we need this new system, money will get us there, we will find a way to implement it all!

wow estonia is very impressive yes

nice i like it.

This is unbelievable as it took me just 9 hours in two days to get my licensed renewed. Thanks for this very interesting post.

I never would have known. That's pretty neat.

@jacor very interesting! i followed!)

Thank you very much @bebetter

Estonia also uses blockchain for health data pwc

Really interesting post, obviously all of these facts about Estonia I didn't know. Thanks 👍

Amazing post

This is so admirable, seeing a country looking forward when everyone else is seemingly moving backward. You can also become an E-citizen of Estonia, which makes it easier for people to open a company and a bank account and conduct business as well. Fun stuff.

great post ! thanks!!

this comment is intended to measure the bandwith use every time we make comment...

I have heard a lot about that place, a lot of tech boom there!
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I tought that a northern country is the most advanced

HI All :)) I am from Estonia :)

Dude, I have a lot of questions :) First question: Is it working?

Yes it works, But if your politicians are fools, then they're able to ruin it all. So far, I have not seen any country whose politicians can do their job. But there's always hope. And yes it works.

Actually, I didn't know half of that! Good on Estonia!

Very interesting read!
I hope the politicians and those in charge in rest of our countries would follow that example more, as there is a lot they could learn.

And another one interesting feature - digital citizenship. It does not allow residence in Estonia, but allow to register and make business legally by creating Estonian company without being Estonian citizenship.

@jacor, this is amazing. I never heard of that country until today. Thanks for this update.

Awesome to see such a small country make a real impact on the worlds technology. It's the same as us Dutchies always striving to be a few steps ahead.

Wow! Estonia is like this? Good to know. Small but mighty. Their technology know-how has announced them.

I would love to never have to go to home affairs again to get any documentation. It took me a year and a half to get my ID document as they messed it up on the system. I had to write my finals with no ID...

Good knowladge 👍🏻😍
Glad to meet you all steemit friends
Please upvote and follow back

Wow this is the type of country i will like to visit

Such an amazing digital government, I think they will use that kind of technology

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Very nice post, and incredibly informative

So, the obvious question is:

How do I move there?