Stefano Quintarelli is the creator of Spid, the public digital identity system born in 2016 and which on Friday exceeded 30 million users. “Creator and normative father”, he is keen to point out. 57 years old, entrepreneur, one of the pioneers of information technology in Italy, he was a member of parliament from 2013 to 2018 elected with the Civic Choice. Spid is his creature. Born in 2016, not without difficulty, “without money”, and despite a bad car accident.
What effect has it made to know that 30 million Italians use Spid?
“I was very pleased. Today it is the public digital identity authentication system with the largest number of users in the world. Period. Spid has entered the life of Italians. It is a fact and it confirms that mine was a correct intuition. . The more you go on, the more all relationships that need a secure online identity will go through there. This is happening right now. “
Could you give us an example?
“A few days ago I was talking to a friend of mine. He told me that through Spid they managed to have a condominium meeting of a timeshare in Sardinia. 400 people connected and authenticated as property owners discussing a condominium where no one was physically present at the moment. It will be more and more like this, from banks to online games, to payment systems, to digital wallets. Everything can be done with Spid. Spid has been designed to become this “.
Let’s go back for a moment. Do you remember when the idea of Spid was born?
“In 2012 I wrote a post on my blog where I began to hypothesize solutions to give a digital identity to Italians. The initial idea was to link people’s identity to the phone sim card, but it had some difficulties and technical problems. he idea was discussed, modified, to the point of imagining something related to his own tax code. Then the following year they asked me to run for Parliament for Civic Choice. And I started working on it right away “.
Who gave you immediate support?
“Francesco Caio. Without his determination we would not have had Spid. Look, maybe you know that on the day I was sworn in by the Letta government I had a bad car accident that kept me in the balance between life and death for some time”.
Yes, I read about the accident on his blog.
“Well, Francesco came to see me then. We discussed digital initiatives for the country. I started talking to him about a shared authentication system, an intangible infrastructure for the country. It was there that I convinced him. Letta had named him.
Commissioner for the Digital Agenda. He asked me: in your opinion what are the three priorities we should work on. I replied: the most important, to equip Italians with a digital identity “.
When did you begin to understand that it could really be done?
“During the first meetings I started talking to various entrepreneurs of companies in the sector. There was enthusiasm and I immediately received their support. ndr) with which we began to write the text of the law. But the contribution of Alessandro Osnaghi was also decisive. If I am Spid’s father, he is in a certain sense the grandfather because he had worked for the state creating digital trust infrastructures and was fundamental for the birth of Spid. But many have shared the idea and given a determined impulse. After Francesco Caio, Diego Piacentini and Paolo Barberis at Palazzo Chigi, the digital team, and many others. Impossible to mention them all. A curiosity: the name is not mine. If I remember correctly, Andrea Rigoni proposed it “.
How is Spid today and how you imagined it?
“Certainly not. I imagined giving it as a concession. But it wasn’t possible.”
Because?
“Because Spid was born without money. We were told: a great idea, do it, but there is no money. At that point we had to work hard to find an alternative. The State did not put any money. Public administrations could not spend. for the services. And it was impossible to ask that the citizens pay Spid, no one pays for a service that we don’t even know how useful it would become. At which point we invented a freemium version: the private service providers, the citizen, pay no”.
But there is more.
“When we wrote the law, we inserted a rule: once a critical mass of users has been created, on the recommendation of the President of the Council of Ministers or the delegated minister, starting from a specific date, public service providers will have to start using Spid to the authentication of their users, paying a negligible amount (40 cents a year for each citizen). Today I imagine that between text messages, registered mail and sending invoices, companies pay companies annually costs well over 40 cents. Today with 30 million of Italians who have Spid and another 7 million will arrive when it is foreseen for a minority segment of the population, the time has come when this service begins not only not to be a cost, but also to repay the investments made. It is time to give fulfillment to the end of the provisions of the law and that the public services managed by private individuals begin to use Spid. Personally, I would start from Healthcare “.
Are you telling me that within the Spid law, which is known to most as a service for the public administration, there are rules that have even imagined its destiny a little?
“Yes, as I explain well in my blog, Spid is not just a service for PAs. Spid is potentially the infrastructure that everyone can use, from diamond sellers to betting centers, from mechanics for repair certificates or purchase certificates. of assets. It has within it the principles that will lead to the digitization of all relationships. And it will become so, also because it can anticipate, as it has already done, even the European regulation, where the digital identity of a digital wallet is supported. a “wallet.” Spid is
born with the possibility of adding additional services. Not many people know what potential it has, and how many are still unexpressed. Today Spid is the basis of many things, it can become the basis of everything and digital relationships also for companies,
it is enough that in the evolution of the technical rules a vision limited to the PA does not prevail “.
Could you go back, is there anything about Spid you wouldn’t do?
“No. I’m very happy with how it went. And I know I should say a little thanks to Covid because the whole system of bonuses, passes, tampons has moved on Spid. Creating a digital identity was what I wanted, and the emergency has made its importance clear. Isn’t that exactly what I wanted it to be? Patience, it’s democracy “.
Have you ever questioned the validity of your idea?
“A lot of times. We have tried several times to close Spid to use only the electronic identity card. But the strength of Spid is really not having a card, a card; Spid can be used from anywhere to do everything. Today between Spid and electronic identity card there is no match. The comparison is embarrassing for access and login numbers. Spid has won “.