Heading to two countries today: Estonia and Luxembourg. Two countries, but one place. This is possible in what is called a “digital embassy” or a “data embassy”.
A “data embassy” is a sort of digital safe deemed inviolable. It contains the most sensitive data of one country stored in computer servers located on the territory of another country. This is what theEstonia set up somewhere in Luxembourgthe exact location is kept secret. American media online Politico s’intéresse à ce phénomène. In the “digital embassy” of Estonia, we find, for example, data from the country’s public services, the civil status of citizens, the land register, land ownership registers, data from the pension system and other data that we do not have obviously not aware, for security reasons. HAS
Continuer à opérer
The objective is to protect the data. Safe from sabotage and cyberattacks. It’s already happened. In 2007, the Estonian Parliament was disrupted, as was the banking system and newspapers. These cyberattacks occurred following disagreements with the Russia on monuments dating from the Soviet era, that is to say before Estonian independence. The system is designed in such a way that data cannot be erased remotely, even at gunpoint. The objective is also to be able to continue to operate from abroad, in the event of an invasion from neighboring Russia, which the Baltic countries are expecting and preparing for. Militarily, but also numerically. HAS
a marché
It is a phenomenon which is developing. Monaco has also opened an embassy of the same type in Luxembourg, but also others who do not want to say too much for security reasons. Ukraine has been thinking about it since the Russian invasion in 2022 and is discussing it with several countries. Because it is now a market. Singapore seeks to open an infrastructure of the same type in Indewhich announced this year that it is working on the installation of an embassy of this kind in United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has announced that it wants to become a hub world of digital embassies. Bahrein has passed a law so that access to data stored on its servers can be governed by the law of a foreign country. Events in the Gulf could rekindle reflection.
Sovereignty
This raises many technical questions, but the issue is largely political and diplomatic. For the moment, the technical means are essentially American with the giants of cloud what are the Gafamsuch as Amazon, Microsoft or Google. And US law specifies that data stored on servers of US companies, even overseas, must be accessible to the US government. It is therefore an issue of sovereignty. And that’s why Europe is working on a digital sovereignty plan. This involves catching up with the huge European gap in semiconductors, artificial intelligence and software tools. The latest news is that this plan is due to be presented on June 3, but it has already been postponed three times under American pressure. The ambassador of United States auprés de l’European Union warned that “protectionist” rules risk undermining the transatlantic trade deal.
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