eGovernment: Using the Belgian eID under Ubuntu

In Belgium, online eGovernment services require the usage of an electronic Identity Card (eID) as a security token. This eID, coupled with a PIN, allows easier paperless interaction with the official services. Last spring 2008 the eID infrastructure was still Windows-only, but now Linux is supported. This post details how to enable the Belgian eID card reader on Ubuntu (8.04). The official info-website is http://eid.belgium.be/nl/Hoe_installeer_je_de_eID_/Linux/index.jsp.

I borrowed a ACR38 card reader. From the command line it displays:

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 072f:9000 Advanced Card Systems, Ltd ACR38 AC1038-based Smart Card Reader

Simply install the ACR38U driver from the Synaptic Package Manager:

Synaptic recommends the pcscd as a dependent package.


Finally, select the 'beidgui' package and accept all dependencies that are proposed:


Now the standalone application can be run. Select Applications/Accessories/Reading and Administration in the Menu or trigger the command line:

$ beigui

The final step is making firefox accept the external card reader. For this, open the local file file:///usr/share/beid/beid-pkcs11-register.html in your browser and accept adding the pkcs#11 module to firefox (please note that the path is slightly different than the official documentation). If everything is OK, you get the following message:

Registration of the "Belgium Identity Card PKCS#11" module in Mozilla, Netscape or Firefox

The "Belgium Identity Card PKCS#11" module is now registered.

Restart firefox and accept the security certificate authority for Belgium:


Nice to see Linux-friendly eGov applications!

More info:

• http://www.stroobant.be/belgische-eid-2-5-9-packages-voor-ubuntu-dapper
  
• http://www.grep.be/blog/en/computer/debian/belpic/

update 24/6/2009: On one of my ubuntu installs I had to run firefox as root:

sudo -i
firefox &

with these two commands, firefox writes its config in /root instead of corrupting your home directory.