Identity card on the mobile phone: CSU is aiming for "smartphone perso"

Friday, January 1st, 2021

ID on the cell phone
CSU is aiming for "smartphone perso"

At the upcoming exam, the CSU wants to adopt a digital paper. Among other things, it calls for the simple use of an online ID card and the digitization of many administrative procedures. But tech giants like Google and Amazon are also involved.

The CSU regional group in the Bundestag wants to introduce a "smartphone person". "We want the use of the online ID card in the Internet to be even easier in the future and the ID card can be saved directly on your own smartphone," says a draft resolution for their exam in the coming week, which was submitted to the AFP news agency. The same applies to other official documents such as the driver's license.

During the Corona crisis, the use of the online ID increased by 250 percent. "We want to build on this and further increase acceptance for the online identification function of ID cards," says the draft. "In the digital world we need a digital ID. That is why we want the forgery-proof digital identity card that can be used on the smartphone and is recognized as an official identity document," said CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt the "Spiegel".

The CSU regional group also wants to work to digitize administrative procedures as completely as possible. Frequently used services should be as easy as ordering in an online shop. In the draft, the CSU emphasizes at the same time: "The security of all applications must always be guaranteed and guaranteed."

"Want to tax the internet giants"

In addition, Internet companies such as Google or Amazon should be forced to pay taxes. "We want to tax the Internet giants," says the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" in the paper on digital policy. If Google and Facebook made money with personalized advertising and data from Germany, then they would have to "give something back to our community from this profit", says the document. "The time is therefore ripe for the Google and Amazon tax."

Germany and Europe, so the proposal of the Christian Socialists, should lead the way in this matter. So far, an international solution within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has taken a long time. That is why "a Europe-wide regulation for minimum taxation" is needed. The paper does not contain any information on a possible amount for such a tax. For years, US technology companies like Amazon or Google have been criticized again and again because, according to critics, they pay too few taxes in individual markets with their business model.