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Phoenix666 writes:

In the shadow of the nearby United Nations, I approached the Estonian consulate this week ready to complete what's been an eight-month journey. I waited this entire time to visit the 6th floor, finalize some paperwork, and leave with a shiny blue box no bigger than a standard envelope. Soon after, it was official.

I was finally an Estonian e-resident, one of the first 10,000 worldwide.

This Northern European country, formerly occupied by the Soviet Union, has become a tech powerhouse in recent years. Its burgeoning startup scene is highlighted by Skype, Estonian citizens have their own digital ID cards (which power the country's online voting system), and the country is the home of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. And a few months back in California, I heard Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas explain his homeland's latest ambition—e-residency cards that could extend some Estonian government services to non-residents like me.

"We have digital identity and digital signing that is equal by law for each and every Estonian citizen and each and every person that lives in Estonia," Rõivas said during a December 2014 event at Stanford University. "If you have a signature that is on your ID card, and you put it to your smart card reader combined with your PIN, and this is legally binding, and this is equal to your handwritten signature, you can do anything with that. We have used this for 10 years now, and we do believe that there are many things we can do."

Any Estonian e-residents care to comment on why this is worth doing?

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