The Spanish government declared “illegal” the digital ID project that the community of Catalonia had been developing
Recently, it was known that the Spanish government issued a decree that puts the public administration on alert about different security matters. That decree is directly related to digital information.
According to local press, this measure makes “illegal” the initiative that the community of Catalonia is developing. That region is working on a blockchain platform which seeks to create a digital identification of its citizens. It is known that, to date, the initiative is in an advanced level of development.
Although the decree of law, which deals with these issues of security and digital identification and that has been approved by the Spanish government, has not been officially published, it will be decreed in gazette.
Since November 5th, this law will be enforced, so citizens still unsure about the breadth of the decision. But, according to a publication posted by the headquarters of the Presidency of the Spanish government, on its official website, it is expected that the creation of a digital identification card for Spanish citizens would take place. Something also described as “exclusive”.
In the publication about this law, it is read that “this document is unique with sufficient value itself for the accreditation, for all purposes, of identity and personal data of its owner”. In addition to this, the decree shows the direct prohibition of using servers outside Spain to conduct procedures within the territory. Therefore, administrative operations of public nature cannot be conducted outside Spain.
Carmen Calvo, who is Vice President of the government, said that the decree responds to the adoption of a series of preventive measures that the Spanish government has been developing. No particular case was detailed, but it was clarified that this law was designed and created to prevent the “Digital Republic” project that was created by the community of Catalonia two years ago.
Contrary to this, last June, the main authorities of Catalonia approved an initiative that launches the “blockchain strategy of Catalonia”, which has among its first actions the creation of a digital ID (National Identity Document) based on the idea of self-sovereignty that the Catalans have been fighting. The concept arises from the characteristics that come with the immutable and permanent blockchain transactions.
The central idea of the implementation of a digital ID will be to facilitate for the authorities of Catalonia the management of citizen administration; thus, allowing the personalized implementation of the citizen action and the processes of management of public services.
Despite this, the Spanish government believes that the implementation of this technology in citizen identification can be used more as a tool for political purposes.
In this way, the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said, during an interview, that the independentists have taken advantage of the technology and have advanced on the “Digital Republic” project to a greater extent; hence, this way the law will force the public administration to use the European Union servers, and not in “digital paradises”.
Sanchez concluded the interview by ensuring that “there will be no independence either offline or online”, he said.
By María Rodríguez
