This is a very impressive, forward-thinking initiative. No doubt it'll falter, act clunky and glitchy at first, and probably be cracked at least once, but this is the direction societies are moving in, and it's good of (and likely, for) Estonia to take the plunge first.

An interesting point to consider: How would a formalized electronic ID scheme affect our present concerns with respect to governments spying on their citizens? On the one hand, putting everyone's public lives online will make it a lot easier to start aggregating data for unwholesome purposes, and puts everyone's personal information in potentially vulnerable computer systems. On the other hand, there are huge efficiency gains and convenience benefits that come from digitizing everything, and maybe having a government bureaucracy centered around digital records will confer that medium with the level of discretion the bureaucracy currently gives paper records.