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Comment by bonzini | Hacker News Reader

We have both the best and the worst examples of bureaucracy.

We were even the first country to have "registered email", in 2005. It's a set of server side protocols based on SMTP and MIME, that provide a legally-binding confirmation that the email was received by the recipient's server and delivered to the recipient. The cool part is that there are even RFCs describing the protocol. Since then it's been extended and has become a European standard.

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You can also do almost every common procedure online using one of many authentication providers and there are many third parties providing auth services.

Compared to say cl@ve in Spain, which only works on a handful sites and for few operations beyond visualization, or Ireland where you have to leg it to the right office, Italy is like living in the future. As long as your data is correct in the system.

Italians like to complain a lot but I think it's because few experienced the actual pain of living abroad

Yeah, it's easy to downplay it but a single sign on (not government-provided, only government-standardized) to do everything from tax returns to downloading your medical record is not at all a given in many other countries. Hoping that they don't mess it up.

The system is incredibly hostile to foreigners though who need to interact with a government agency. Especially on holiday. I'm sure that goes well with all the ZTL signs posted 8 ft high and hidden behind the trees.

Why? It is only mandatory for companies and self-employed professionals. Most Italians don't have a registered email address.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_email

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