Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Risto Hansen, head of eGovernment Solutions at Guardtime, explains Estonia's e-governance system. / Korea Times photo by Park Si-soo |
This is the last in a three-part series on European countries seeking socio-economic innovation with blockchain technology. ― ED.
By Park Si-soo
TALLINN, Estonia ― Blockchain is certainly a groundbreaking technology in many aspects. But standing alone, there are few things it can do. Its potential can be blown up fully only when it's combined with other fitting technologies, said a senior Estonian computer scientist who designed his country's extensive e-governance system.
Estonia brags of having one of the world's most advanced e-governance systems, in which its citizens aged over 15 can do everything from pay taxes to apply for state subsidies, request public certificates and even vote. Its system is stable and well-secured but is not built upon blockchain.
"Blockchain is not a silver bullet," said Risto Hansen, head of eGovernment Solutions at Guardtime, a software company. "Also it's not something that fits everything."
Guardtime developed core parts of Estonia's e-governance system.
Hansen said blockchain is the "right tool" to build an immutable database and conduct trusted transactions without conventional middlemen. But it has critical shortcomings in terms of privacy protection, the right to be forgotten, data scalability and so on.
The veteran programmer praised ethereum's "smart contracts" function but warned against the idea of building fully automated blockchain-based public services. He cited the so-called DAO hacking in 2016 as an example.
What is DAO hack? https://bit.ly/2u3I90T
"Through the incident, we learned the importance of having room for human control in automated systems. In public services, this room is more important," Hansen said. "Imagine that public systems work wrongly but there is no room for humans to stop it."
That's why despite having advanced computer technology, the Estonian government has applied blockchain only in the management of log-in data and e-signatures, the outermost layer of its e-governance system.
 |
| Siim Sikkut, deputy secretary general at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, talks about Estonia's blockchain policy. |
Siim Sikkut, deputy secretary general at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, agreed with Hansen's idea. He is in charge of the ministry's communications and state information system affairs.
"We are not that enthusiastic in embracing blockchain," he said. "We are using blockchain to ensure data integrity."
The Estonian government is committed to expanding the coverage of the e-governance system, but blockchain's contribution would be limited, he said.
"Our goal (of using blockchain) is to boost people's trust in public services by ensuring data integrity," Sikkut said. "We will carry out various experiments with blockchain to test how much it can support the existing system."
He said he didn't feel the need for new regulations on blockchain and cryptocurrency. But if he is asked to join a discussion over EU-wide rules, he said he would "willingly accept it."
This article was written after participating in a blockchain diploma program hosted by the Korea Press Foundation.
