On January 18, 2021, Tatyana Ershova, general director of the Institute of the Information Society, editor-in-chief of the scientific and analytical journal “Information Society”, gave a comment to the Zvezda TV and radio channel on the widespread introduction of electronic passports, driver’s licenses, work books and other important documents accompanying our life.
T. Ershova highlighted the role of the country’s leadership and the Ministry of Digital Development in the promotion and implementation of large-scale digitalization, urging all media to actively engage in enlightening work. Citizens need to be educated about the benefits of using digital technologies and the risks associated with the transition to digital documents.
T. Ershova is a great enthusiast of using digital opportunities and is quite optimistic about the pace of citizens’ transition to basic digital documents: it may take years (about 5 years), but not decades. One needs to understand that in such a huge country like Russia, the possibilities of introducing digital documents in different regions vary greatly, and here the terms can be very different. Much will depend on the political will of government and business leaders.
It is imperative when campaigning for “digital citizens” to train people to protect themselves from fraud that could seriously harm them. In general, the problem of personal data protection and the development of a culture of cybersecurity should be addressed nationwide, so that every citizen can feel protected and get the most out of the transition to new document formats and the rejection of paper.
More details with the commentary can be found on the page of the “Zvezda” channel (in Russian).