EVELINE RUTZ Many people buy books, groceries, clothes and theatre tickets online now. Even moving house, requesting planning permission or paying taxes increasingly entails digital contact with the relevant offices. All sorts of business can now be done conveniently by phone or computer. There is considerable potential for official services to run online – potential that Switzerland has not really tapped into yet. Currently placed 31 in the annual European Union rankings, it lies below the EU average. The number of online services is quite small. There is no national E-ID (see “Swiss Review” 6/2022). Many of the current IT systems are mutually incompatible; data is rarely gathered in line with set standards. That complicates the seamless exchange of information as well as the use of information for planning, administration and research. The general public realised this when the Confederation had trouble acquiring a real-time overview of the spread of infection during the coronavirus pandemic. It wasn’t unusual for medical practices to fax infection numbers to Berne. This provoked a major outcry: administration, politics and the economy pressed for more commitment and urgency. Switzerland had to accelerate its digital conversion to keep up, so they said. Public administration is coming under pressure to make up the lost ground. “We have no more time to lose,” said Anne Lévy, Director-General of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), when she announced a national funding programme for early 2025. The question is not whether we need to push digitisation in the health sector, “but how quickly we can progress with it and how we can get everyone on the same page”. The Confederation plans to invest 392 million Swiss francs by 2034 solely for digitisation. Other projects are ongoing. The principle “digital first and digital only” is to be implemented consistently at all three state levels. The smartphone must remain a tool, and not become the only option However, as calls grow to pick up the pace, other voices are calling for restraint. For example, plans by public transport bosses to make bus and rail ticket sales exclusively digital from 2035 have met with resistance. Many older people do not have a smartphone, as the association of active senior citizens and self-help organisations in Switzerland (Vasos) points out. They need to be able to buy non-digital tickets, with cash. There are also the hearing and visually impaired to think about. The needs of children and young people must not be forgotten either, asserts youth organisation Pro Juventute. The youngest public transport users need to have the option of buying single journeys offline. Monica Amgwerd, General Secretary of the Zurich Pirate Party, agrees. “It’s not right to force children to buy tickets by smartphone.” The cash option must not be abolished. After all, people may also not want to give out their data all over the place. “Unlike analogue data, digital data can be gathered, evaluated and misused on a large scale,” argues Amgwerd. People need protection against that. The Zurich Pirate Party wants to enshrine the right to live offline in the cantonal constitution. In August, it put forward the popular initiative “for a basic right to digital integrity”. People in the digital space must be informed and able to act with self-determination. They must not be IT experts warn against digitisation for the sake of digitisation Switzerland needs to go digital to keep up with the times. Critics are warning against doing so at the expense of users’ rights and requirements. People must still be able to do things offline, they argue. Pay for a rail ticket in cash without leaving a data trail? Even the IT savvy are arguing that this should still be possible. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / December 2024 / No.6 26 Politics
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