Is Your Country Fake Digital Or Real Digital?

A recent article on the Estonian e-Residency programme [here] defines “fake digital” and “real digital” in terms of the provision of government services.

And so my governments (UK and Scotland) love to say they are investing in digital services and they want to put the citizen at the centre, but they are, perhaps, “fake digital”.

Apart from paying taxes and things like parking tickets, I have virtually no meaningful digital interaction with my council, the NHS, and my governments. In fact, I nearly couldn’t vote in a recent election, as my council had moved my identity to the place that my son had just moved to.

I, too, recently, had to correct an NHS record as it contained an address that I had no lived for at least 20 years. The opportunity for some form of integrated record, which would, at least, give me a consistent identity, is something that seems a long way off. When I registered for a new GP recently, it was out with the pen and paper, and I had to tell them all about me, as if they had just came into contact with me.

I thus have little in the way of a health care record that I can access, and my interaction with my local council is non-existent. If I want to raise a concern in my local area, I need to get involved in a local committee, and then watch the clock as months and years…