Following Estonia’s example, Ukraine is launching a Personal Data Access Monitoring Subsystem embedded in Trembita, the government’s secure data exchange platform. The mechanism allows every Ukrainian to see who accessed their personal data stored in government registers.

In this episode we host Yurii Kopytin, Senior Expert at the e-Governance Academy, and Hannes Astok, our Executive Director, about what transparency means in practice in Ukraine and, on the side, in Estonia too.

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The topic of data protection spans the entire spectrum of the internet, from when users surf the web to when they benefit from efficient online services as citizens.

Cookie banners, privacy policies, GDPR compliance notices – all and more. And yet, for how practical the concept and its implications are, it still remains quite abstract for many. The rules exist, across the globe, actually, but the reality of what happens to your data most often stays invisible.

Estonia has taken a different approach. Through the Data Tracker, every Estonian citizen can log in and clearly see who has accessed their personal data in government registers, when it was accessed, and for what purpose.

In this episode of the Digital Government Podcast, we speak with Maarja Kirss, Head of Cooperation at the Estonian Data Protection Inspectorate (DPI), about what happens when transparency becomes a working system for the government.

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Future prosperity is increasingly rooted in assets that defy traditional measurement. While we continue to track roads built and services delivered, much of what shapes our collective future lies in more subtle dimensions: trust, ethical governance, institutional coherence, and the bonds that allow people to thrive.

Consider, for instance, the value of public trust in institutions. It is not something governments can purchase or quickly generate, yet it is essential to the success of everything, from vaccination campaigns to digital identity systems. Likewise, the design of a citizen portal that treats users with dignity can foster a sense of agency and belonging. Hard to capture that in budgets or audits.

Eeva Hellström, Senior Lead in Foresight and Training at the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, helped us reflect on that at this year’s e-Governance Conference. So let’s consider here the deeper layers of value creation and ask how digital governance can become a vehicle for long-term prosperity.

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