I always try not to be sarcastic regarding political debate because having opposing views is normal and healthy in a democracy. The campaign against e-ID has some arguments that, IMO, don’t hold up to scrutiny, but when I receive this in my mailbox I just can’t help but wonder if it’s satire…

    For those who rather not train their French skills:

    In the heart of the Swiss valleys, trust is passed on like a mountain pasture secret, woven from sincere glances and respectful silences. Digital identity, on the other hand, erases the boundaries of the heart, dissolves intimacy in the cold light of screens, and turns everyone into a mere reflection, far removed from the human warmth that is Switzerland’s strength.

    https://i.redd.it/splwc9qy5kmf1.jpeg

    Posted by thebluepotato7

    Share.

    19 Comments

    1. privacyguyincognito on

      This is clearly aimed at Switzerland’s largest and most active voter group: pensioners.

    2. ProfileBest2034 on

      I think it’s a spot on advert. 

      Governments ability to track and monitor its citizens and residents should be made as inconvenient (for it) as is possible. 

    3. If they implement e-id will this mean that going to a site like pornhub would require you to use e-id in order to see the content?

    4. If anyone is trying to influence your decisions by appealing to your emotions, you should do some research into the facts

    5. It’s not even that the arguments don’t hold scrutiny, it’s that there’s just no argument there.

    6. Honestly, what bothers me most about the e-ID is the fake commitment to open-source. If the code were open source, then it would not be possible to hide backdoors or “extra” functionality. However, in the very next sentence, they say that code can remain closed for proprietary or security reasons.

      For that reason alone, I do not trust the government to implement the e-ID.

    7. Do_Not_Touch_BOOOOOM on

      Just an FYI for all the people saying the government needs this to track the population. No it doesn’t. If the government wants that information it’s way easier to just force swisscom and Google to hand out publicly sold information and compare them to its own databases.

      We had movement heat maps during corona of the population thanks to cell phone and google advert tracking.

      And single person privacy is dead with social media.

      The only problem this solves is authentication to a system. Which could also be solved differently if the general population could be trusted with a password and a two step authentication system.

      Source I work in gouvernement IT.

      Ps: half of the senior Management can’t handle excell you give them way too much credit for evil overlords.

    8. Extremely weak arguments to be honest. Plenty of good reasons to be against (and the other way around too), but those shouldn’t even make the list.

    9. Phantasmalicious on

      We have been using all forms of electronic ID in Estonia for 30+ years. All data requests are stored on the chain and you can see who accessed your data and where.

    10. Icy-Panda-2158 on

      I mean, this is the argument against e-ID, because the argument against eID is based on vibes, not on facts. 

    11. I would have written it the exact same way – if I’d be against it. Since most voters in those “Valleys” hold exactly true what is written there. Therefore – smart move.

    12. RefuseRelative4183 on

      As a Swiss citizen, we can also have real-time data on what our elected officials are doing, so that we are treated equally, without discrimination.