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Estonia Becomes E-stonia as Internet Voting Takes Off in Post-Soviet Republic

The Land That Gave Us Skype Now Pioneers E-Voting
By Jeremy Geelan
Article Rating:
February 23, 2007 10:15 AM EST
Reads:
 19,638

In Estonia, where since 2002 an electronic identification card has been mandatory for all citizens above the age from 15, the success of e-voting in local government council elections last year has spurred the authorities to extend the scheme to the country's upcoming national election.

A member of both the European Union and NATO since 2005, Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic states and endured Russian occupation from 1940 till 1991. It is most famous for having been the land where Skype was born and was surprisingly ranked No 8 out of 82 countries in putting the Internet to practical use in a recent World Economic Forum report. (Thanks to Ross Mayfield for that datapoint.)

Although France, the United Kingdom and the United States have all conducted e-voting pilots, experts believe that Estonia may become the first country in the world to carry out Internet voting nationwide in an actual election. Estonia also has the highest rate of public Internet access points (PIAPs) per capita in the world.

 

 

Published February 23, 2007 – Reads 19,638
Copyright © 2007 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Jeremy Geelan

Jeremy Geelan is President & COO of Cloud Expo, Inc. and Conference Chair of the worldwide Cloud Expo series. He appears regularly at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of Cloud Expo's "Power Panels" on SYS-CON.TV.

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Most Recent Comments
Duty Editor 02/22/07 11:47:22 AM EST

>> I thought that the founders of Skype were
>> Swedish and Danish, not from Estonia...

Two of the most commonly associated names were indeed Swedish (Niklas Zennstrom) and Danish (Janus Friis), but Skype's four founding engineers - Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, Jaan Tallinn and Toivo Annus - were all Estoninan.

The four have formed a new company in Estonia called Ambient Sound Investments, with Annus as chief executive officer.

One of the VCs who financed the development of Skype, Steve Jurvetson of Hotmail fame, also has Estonian roots.
quezztion 02/22/07 11:35:07 AM EST

I thought that the founders of Skype were Swedish and Danish, not from Estonia...