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Thursday, July 25, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION

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ALEXANDER SATOLA | OP-ED
A

fter gaining independence 
from Russia in 1991, the 
government of Estonia 
set out to distinguish itself as a 
hub for technological innovation. 
Today, 99 percent of public 
services are available online to 
its 1.3 million citizens. However, 
despite all of the technological 
innovation 
evident 
in 
the 
e-Estonia 
project, 
its 
most 
impressive accomplishment has 
been maintaining trust with the 
public.
As we know from our everyday 
interactions, if we put our faith 
in someone and they deceive us, 
we aren’t likely to trust them 
again. The same is true for 
people and their governments. 
Estonia 
has 
demonstrated 
a 
digital 
transition 
where 
a 
government 
consistently 
delivers 
on 
its 
promise 
to 
provide valuable services to its 
people. This environment of 
confidence is essential to any 
healthy democracy.
A good democracy has both 
elements of trust and distrust. 
On the one hand, citizens need 
to keep a close eye on their 
leaders to prevent abuses of 
power, which is why in the 
United States we have frequent 
elections and consent of the 
governed. 
However, 
people 
should 
also 
express 
faith 
in public institutions when 
they are found to be fair and 
legitimate .
The U.S. has a lot to learn 
from 
the 
Estonian 
model, 
especially 
when 
it 
comes 

to residents’ trust in public 
institutions. According to the 
Pew Research Center, only 17 
percent of Americans say they 
trust the federal government 
to do the right thing always or 
most of the time. 
This level of distrust can be 
found across multiple levels 
of government as well. One of 
the most egregious examples 
of 
government 
deception 
is the Flint water crisis, in 
which 
the 
city 
government 
diverted contaminated water 
from the Flint River to cut 
costs. For much of 2014 and 
2015, government officials told 
residents the water was safe 
to drink despite the evidence 
that there were still dangerous 
contaminant levels. Even now, 
as officials assure residents 
the pipes are replaced and the 
water is safe, many residents 
still drink only bottled water.
On top of political scandal, 
inefficient 
administration 
can 
also 
embitter 
citizens. 
American 
civic 
activities 
like voting and paying taxes, 
for example, are practically 
designed to be vexing. In order 
to vote, Americans have to brave 
a complicated voter registration 
process, figure out confusing 
residency and early voting rules 
and take off work on election 
day. The U.S. tax system is also 
notoriously complicated, with 
people filling out a plethora of 
forms each year only to send 
the government information it 
already has.

So what does Estonia do 
differently? 
To 
start, 
the 
voting and taxation processes 
in Estonia sound utopian. In 
2005, Estonia became the first 
country in the world to facilitate 
online i-Voting. People can cast 
their ballots from any device 
connected to the internet and 
are even able to change their 
vote during the pre-election 
period. 
Additionally, 
filing 
taxes takes only five minutes on 
average and 98 percent of tax 
declarations are filed online.

The backbone of this digital 
society is the e-ID card, which 
gives residents access to secure 
digital services. The card is 
equipped with a chip and two 
pin codes for security and 
serves as a legal travel ID, 
national health insurance card 
and digital signature.
In addition, residents have 
agency 
over 
their 
personal 
data. Using their ID card, they 
can access a portal with a log 
of everyone who has viewed 
their data. They enjoy strong 

protections 
on 
the 
consent-
based use of their sensitive 
personal 
information, 
which 
creates transparency with the 
authorities.
Skeptics will be quick to point 
out that Estonia is relatively 
small and has a public that 
already buys into its government 
acting like an idealistic Silicon 
Valley startup. If Estonia really 
is a special case, then it can’t 
offer much to large countries 
who can’t afford to start from 
scratch.
Also, some of the central 
tenets of e-Estonia, like national 
ID, are unlikely to gain a footing 
in the United States. Think tanks 
such as the Cato Institute and 
the ACLU have labeled national 
ID as a dangerous threat to 
individuals’ rights, giving the 
government 
wide-ranging 
surveillance 
capability 
over 
citizens. The federal government 
has a history of violating citizens’ 
privacy, so the public must 
indeed think critically about any 
proposed improvements to the 
current system.
That 
said, 
government 
e-services that make people’s 
lives easier already exist in 
the United States. The website 
USA.gov provides links to a 
number of online applications, 
including 
passports, 
federal 
assistance 
programs 
and 
immigration. 
Smaller 
state 
and 
municipal 
governments 
are also experimenting with 
e-services. 
For 
example, 
in 
Washington 
D.C., 
residents 

can apply online for a driver’s 
license, pay parking tickets 
and 
explore 
some 
of 
the 
city’s open data initiatives. 
Like American tech startups, 
governments should be more 
aggressive about providing a 
better user experience to their 
constituents.
It is also the job of governments 
to 
clearly 
communicate 
the 
value 
of 
e-services. 
Saving 
time and reducing hassle are 
great incentives, but if these 
aren’t properly relayed, then 
public programs will forever 
lack legitimacy and adoption. 
Equally, when things go wrong, 
the government must act fast to 
regain trust. Despite discovering 
a major vulnerability in the e-ID 
system in 2018, the Estonian 
government 
worked 
closely 
with experts and the public to 
turn a potential disaster into 
an opportunity to bolster its 
cybersecurity.
The Estonian digital transition 
started out with a high level of 
public confidence, and it was 
able to maintain it by granting 
the population with transparent, 
innovative 
services. 
Though 
the most obvious way to keep 
the trust of the public involves 
avoiding activities that prompt 
distrust, 
U.S. 
policymakers 
should also further consider the 
merits of bringing traditional 
public services into the digital 
age.

Alexander Satola is a rising junior and 

Senior Opinion Editor at the Daily.

What Estonia can teach us about trust

A good democracy 
has both elements 
of trust and 
distrust. 

