The “Digitales Amt” app is being replaced by “ID Austria.” At the presentation on Tuesday, the responsible State Secretary Alexander Pröll (ÖVP) promised a more user-friendly interface. The obligation to log in using biometric data such as fingerprint or facial recognition will be dropped; a PIN code can now also be used as the second factor. Pröll suggested that ID Austria could also be used to verify a minimum age on social media.

ID Austria makes it possible to prove one’s own identity to digital applications. To date there have been more than 3.9 million registrations, and over 500 applications are currently integrated. With the relaunch of the associated app on 20 June, the functions “Log in” and “Sign” have been placed at the centre, said Pröll, who described ID Austria as a “digital master key in everyday life.” Pending signatures are now recognizable at a glance, and the overview of personal data is also improved. The new app is easy to understand, secure, and practical for citizens, businesses, and the administration. Migration occurs automatically.

ID Austria could be used for minimum-age checks on social media

Push notifications now inform about the expiry of ID Austria, and renewal is possible online. The app also meets the requirements of the eIDAS regulation and is thus legally valid for use throughout Europe. The website oesterreich.gv.at has been modernized as the central platform of digital administration, and id-austria.gv.at now provides information on digital identity.

ID Austria will be opened to the private sector. It can now be more easily integrated into applications, leading to secure and barrier-reduced login processes. “We stand ready as a central key,” Pröll said to companies. He also suggested that social-media platforms could use ID Austria to enforce the much-debated minimum age.

The long-term goal is to establish a “one-stop shop.” When someone changes their residence, they should find all services—from finding a kindergarten place to notifying the post office—in one place, Pröll explained. Compared with other EU countries, Austria aims to rank in the top three for digitalization. The government’s objective is that by 2030 every person in the country will have an ID Austria. To establish this more effectively, Pröll announced an Austria-wide summer service tour with a stop in each federal state where interested parties can apply for ID Austria.

NEOS against real-name requirement for online platforms

Regarding the regulation of online platforms, NEOS on Tuesday opposed a repeatedly floated real-name requirement. “Anonymity on the net is not up for debate,” emphasised the NEOS parliamentary leader Yannick Shetty in a release. He said it was “not a danger but a cornerstone of liberal net policy”: “Anyone who thinks that in future you will have to present an identity card to open a Facebook account or to register anonymously on a dating platform completely misunderstands what communicative freedom rights are about.”