This year Germany will introduce the new electronic identity cards. What about Italy?

In Germany, the electronic identity card will be introduced in November 2010, as it was formerly provided. The confirmation was released by the German Ministry of Interior, citizens will receive multi-function identity cards that contain radio chips and biometric data. The radio rfid chip also contains a digital passport photo and the information is printed on the credit-card sized ID and encrypted digitally. The users can choose to store two fingerprints and to activate an electronic signature function that would allow them to sign sales contracts or make official applications online.

The ID can be used for both official and commercial functions, but not everyone will have access to all of the data contained on the card. Owners must enter a 6-digit PIN number to authorize the release of information, deciding which data they want to transmit. The ID cards are expected to be used as well for age verification in cigarette vending machines. As it happens commonly with any new event, some believe it will make everything more secure, others are reluctant that all this information could be easily misused.

This is the situation in our neighbor, Germany.

While the situation in our country, Italy, is quite different. The project started already many years ago and by that time, it was an avant-garde initiative compared to other EU Countries, even that in reality it never became massive for lots of reasons.

Actually, just 139 experimental municipalities that received the necessary issuance equipments by 2004 are enable to distribute the card to the citizens. At national level the project has undergone a significant stop for an indefinite period due to the high technology needed for its implementation, the expensive cost of release compared to the common paper document and the willingness of the Interior Ministry to centralize under its control the new document’s issuance. Actually, the result is that the direct cost for the state has been increased.

Apparently, the card is made of plastic material such as ATM or tax code card. The electronic identity card, compared to the traditional paper ones, is equipped with optical stripe for laser reading, microprocessor and cryptographic keys, allowing the cardholder to identify himself securely in automated systems. The model has a 23x28mm-format color picture of the holder, fingerprints of the index finger of each hand, person’s name and its data identification, birth, sex, height, tax code, municipality of residence and address, issuance and expire date and citizenship.

Same as in Germany the processor may also integrate additional services in the future, including a digital signature service. It will not be necessary for a person’s identity to introduce the card into a reader; the identity and passport picture of the holder will be printed on paper and will be clearly readable. It predicted that the electronic identity card and national services card would be the only authentication tools for accessing web services provided by public administrations.

It is still expected that new ID electronic card will be activated and spread by the end of 2010 throughout the country, At least according to the Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, in the Anci´s (Associazione Nazionale Comuni d'Italia - Italy’s National Association of Municipalities) annual meeting in Turin in October, 2009. Minister Maroni underlined that it was “an extraordinarily innovative project by the time it was launched ten years ago, the system is activated once more leading  by the end of 2010 to the electronic ID cards spread on the whole national territory and in all municipalities”. Maroni declared as well his intention to develop local tests as soon as possible, to enrich electronic identity card with all services that local authorities will want to insert.

In light of these declarations, this year In Italy the smart identity card is expected to be introduced too and to become a sort of single document that can serve to all purposes following the “all-in-one” philosophy. 

Sources:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5012697,00.html

http://www.university.it/adnkronos/cronaca/sicurezza-maroni-entro-2010-carta-identita-elettronica-su-tutto-territorio

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carta_d%27identit%C3%A0_elettronica