The Ukrainian government in 2020 launched Diia, a digital app that combines identity card, passport, license, vaccination record, registrations, insurance, health reimbursements and social benefits.
Officially launched February 6, 2020, Diia is intended to combine all public services into one app, which operates as a “digital state.”
Diia provides more than 50 government services, with the eventual goal of making all interactions with the state available through the app. Currently used by 14 million Ukrainians, according to Wired, Diia is considered a “national brand” in Ukraine.
Some of the documents available via the app include citizens’ national identification card, a biometric passport, drivers’ licenses (with Ukraine being the fourth European country to introduce them in digital form), vehicle registration certificates and insurance policies, tax documents, birth certificates and COVID-19 vaccine certificates.
Now, the Diia app is being utilized as a weapon of war—to the enthusiastic approval of international media.
Wired, for instance, described Ukraine’s digital ministry, which operates the Diia app, as a “formidable war machine.” Indeed, as Wired reports, the Diia app now includes the following war-related features:
• A quick way to donate money to the Ukrainian military, including via cryptocurrency.
• A chatbot for submitting images and video of Russian troop movements in Ukraine.
• 24-hour streaming access to television stations and newscasts from Ukraine.
• A video channel for children
This is in addition to a call posted by Fedorov on the social messaging app Telegram, for a motley crew of developers, designers, marketers and “security specialists” to join a volunteer “IT Army”—with 300,000 volunteers having been attracted thus far. Read More (CHD)
