In 2016, I registered domain name homan.ee. It matches the way I write my name on a form that requests family name and initials. Top level domain ee is a country code, which, following ISO3166-1, belongs to Estonia. And that is where I have requested the domain name.

Already earlier, I had been looking at this domain name. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Estonia has developed quickly, also regarding internet technology. However, registration of domain names in the top level domain ee could only be done by entities established in Estonia until recently. Furthermore, it required a process involving paper work and physical visits to offices in Estonia. A number of interesting developments made it possible for me to register the domain name from my home.

Between 2006 and 2016, Toomas Hendrik Ilves has been the president of the Republic of Estonia. Mr. Ilves was raised in the United States. In 1991, after the new Estonian independence, he became a resident. He was a member of the national and European Parliaments, after which he became president. He launched an ambitious plan to provide governmental services via the internet, large scale. Estonian residents can do a lot with their government issued digital identity: taxes, social security, subsidies, voting, requesting permits, etc.

The digital identity is being exported as well. Non-residents can request Estonian “e-Residency”. And this is what I have done in 2015. After my request had been processed, I was invited to collect the stuff at the Estonian embassy to The Netherlands, located in The Hague. A plastic identity card and a reader to connect to a pc. Similar to a debit card.

The possibilities of e-Residency should not be underestimated. With my digital identity and the reader, I can digitally sign documents. And that gives me a lot of possibilities, for example to open a bank account at an Estonian bank, establish an Estonian Ltd, do VAT-reporting for this Ltd. Maybe even marriage, but I did not check that.

Since 2016 it is also possible to register domain names with extension ee, using the digital identity. Finding a local, affordable hosting solution was not an issue, of course. Everything could be arranged easily from my home.

Estonia has a relatively small population. After the Soviet era stagnation, there was a desire for development. The backlog proved to be an advantage for the realization of modern concepts like the digital identity. And Toomas Hendrik Ilves was the director and producer who made it all possible. Not entirely comparable with the situation in The Netherlands, but still I think we can learn from it.