Goodbye Spid? Government plans, expert opinions

Spid: the declared objectives of the government and the (contrary) judgment of analysts and prof.

BUTTI: "TURN OFF THE SPID IN FAVOR OF THE DIGITAL IDENTITY CARD"

The proposal comes from Alessio Butti, undersecretary to the Prime Minister with responsibility for technological innovation. “ We try to gradually turn off Spid which collects a series of digital identities and facilitate the action of our businesses and citizens with the Public Administration,” he said from the Fratelli d'Italia stage. Butti's idea is that the CIE, i.e. the electronic identity card, should gradually replace the Spid, because, according to him, it would soon be used among the elderly due to the difficulties associated with obtaining and accessing it. With the electronic identity card, which will become the "single digital identity", however, everything should be simpler.

OVER 30 MILLION CITIZENS HAVE SPID

Butti's aversion to the Spid is nothing new. Even before the lockdown he had complained that the Spid system was complex and essentially managed under concession by private individuals, and therefore for a fee. The identity card, in addition to being free, is in the hands of the Ministry of the Interior and the Municipalities. In the meantime, however, the pandemic has favored the spread of the Spid , an indispensable tool for communicating with the Public Administration, accessing services and requesting income support benefits designed to support citizens in such a difficult period. About 30 million citizens have created their own digital identity , over 120,000 administrations have already adopted it and numerous private companies for identity verification.

QUINTARELLI (DESIGN OF SPID): "THE MOST SIGNIFICANT THING DONE FOR THE DIGITALIZATION OF THE COUNTRY IN THE LAST 25 YEARS"

From his profile on Mastodon (he no longer has Twitter since the arrival of Elon Musk) Stefano Quintarelli , “ creator and regulatory father ” of Spid, defends his creature. “Many people have asked me privately what I think of the government's announced shutdown of SPID – reads his profile -. The reasons why I consider Spid the most significant thing done for the digitization of the country in the last 25 years I have explained here ". The computer scientist, president of the Steering Committee of the Agency for Digital Italy until last November 7, 2021, refers those who ask him for his opinion to the list of FAQs he has prepared on the matter. “ Spid serves to be recognized with legal value by an online service of the Public Administration and/or private individuals and to access the online public services of the other EU States – reads the first answer -. In itself it is not an identity document but when the law requires the Public Administration to check the identity document of those who access a service, identifying with SPID is also equivalent to presenting it".

MATTEO FLORA: "SPID PART OF A EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK"

In defense of Spid also Matteo Flora , analyst and professor of cyber issues , who from his Twitter account makes fun of Undersecretary Butti 's proposal, recalling that in this period the chips present in the electronic identity card are not easy to find: " After the facades taken at the European level on the POS, how long will it take for the melons to understand that: 1. There are no chips for the electronic CI, 2. There are fewer of them around than Lamborghini, 3. SPID is part of a European framework ? Bets accepted. Slaps are predicted ”.

FUGGETTA: "REFORM SPID, NOT ELIMINATE IT"

On the same wavelength also prof. Alfonso Fuggetta , full professor of computer science at the Milan Polytechnic. “I read that they want to eliminate SPID. As usual in this country there is no reasoning. Before it seemed to be the solution to all problems (false). Now we want to eliminate it (senseless). It is a useful piece (one). Can we improve it? Of course. But what does deleting it have to do with it?”, he writes on Twitter. And then he adds: “ We are a country that has been discussing digital cards, identities, various cards and almost never about interoperability, services and processes of the PA for decades ”. Furthermore, according to Prof. Fuggetta, the reform of the SPID and/or the relaunch of the CIE is not a priority. “There is also an app. Cieid. But there are two issues: 1. The CIE is not yet available to everyone. 2. The rationalization of cards (CIE, CNS) and identities will have to be done. But now it is certainly not a top priority. What is perplexing is that we only talk about these issues”.