Deutsche Welle, 5 May 2014
In Estonia,
a broadband Internet connection is available everywhere for free. A young
Estonian tells DW what it's like living in a completely networked European
Union country and where the digital boundaries stand.
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| Sign showing free wireless internet access provided in the park of the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn. (Photo: LEHTIKUVA / Pekka Sakki) |
DW:
Estonia's constitution guarantees all Estonians free Internet. What's your
digital day like?
Sandra
Länts: There's free wireless Internet connection almost everywhere, so anyone
with a smartphone has Internet access. It's all over in Estonia - even in
[remote areas], you can get online with 3G or 4G. All restaurants, all bars
have their own free Wi-Fi hotspot. Regardless of where you are in the city, you
can log in and get online.
I always
have my phone with me, and when I don't, I don't feel complete. I'm completely
dependent on it. Like I always do my route planning and get a wide variety of
daily information from the Internet, and use a lot of apps. I couldn't do
without a smartphone.
There's
also the so-called daily identification card, which you can use to register
doctor's appointments, pick up medication from the pharmacy, or even vote
online. With hundreds of government-related tasks intersecting at this one
point, you'd have to really trust your government, right?
 |
| Sandra Länts |
You can do
everything with the card: vote, buy plane tickets, do online banking. I don't
use it, because I'm not so sure about it. With voting, too, I'd rather go in
person. Otherwise, I don't know what might happen with my vote or data. Since
it was introduced in 2005, many Estonians are still skeptical - myself
included, since I do so much online.
Internet is
a fact of life for your generation. So where does your skepticism come from?
It actually
really grew during my stay in Germany. In Estonia, almost everyone pays with a
debit or credit card. But in Germany I learned that real, physical money
matters. Cash counts, so to speak. Since then, I pay with a card as rarely as
possible. I don't want anyone following my movements. My bank would be able to
know everything that I do. And I'm a little afraid of that.
How does
Estonian digital life compare to its German equivalent?
The first
month for me in Munich was a shock - there was no free Wi-Fi. Later it was okay
because I bought a modem stick. But what really surprised me were the mountains
of paperwork. There were always so many papers to fill out and turn in. In
Estonia, you can register yourself [when you move] online. But in Germany, you
always have to go in person. That was really strange for me - and a lot of
work, because I always had to go somewhere, and organize my whole day around
that.
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| Länts was surprised by all the paperwork she had to do in Germany, including during her studies |
The thing
that surprised me the most were the huge piles of paper that I needed for my
university studies. I also got a paper statement from the bank via snail mail
every month. That was funny.
In Estonia,
the tax office automatically does your tax return. That's one big advantage of
data exchange, right?
When my pay
comes into my account, it's always accompanied by a statement that taxes are
due - usually in spring. Then I just click on the link for whichever account I
get my income, and see what I've received. The tax office automatically
calculates how much in taxes I've paid, and how much I should get back. It only
takes five minutes, and I end up knowing exactly how much I should get. I just
confirm with a click, and the money reaches my account the next week. I
don't see any disadvantages.
Sandra
Länts works at the Goethe Institute in Tallinn. Estonian by birth, she studied
German studies at Tallinn University and spent a year at Bamberg University in
Germany.
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