The FINEID cards are available to the private citizens and organisations.
All the new personal identity cards are FINEID cards and they are applied from the police.
(The eid certificates are also available to some banking cards and mobile SIM cards)
The eid certificates are issued by the Population Register Centre (VRK).
Naturally, one cannot alter the eid certificates and keys on the cards.
There are two generations of the Finnish eid cards.
OpenSC should work fine with the eid application following the version 1.x specification that is using a PKCS#15 file structure.
The version 2 of the eid specification address the ISO/IEC 7816-15 file structure and somewhat different command parameters to the version 1 specification. According to the VRK, the version 2 application is implemented in the personal identity cards manufactured since 10.6.2005.
FIXME:did anyone test lately with version 2 cards?
The eid application has two pin codes, one for the identification/encryption
and the other for the signing operations. Both pin codes can be changed by the owner.
FIXME:pin changes in OpenSC?
The FINEID cards allow storing extra data (say, home-made PKI keypairs).
FIXME: save extra data with OpenSC?
You can ask the police for advice on the use of electronic identity cards. You can also test your electronic identity card at police stations.
If your electronic identity card has become locked, you can unlock it at a police station. You must have the correct PUK number with you to unlock the PIN number.
If you have lost your PUK number, the police can on request order a new PUK number, which will be sent by mail to the address you provide. The new number can then be used to unlock your PIN number.
Fees:
Unlocking a PIN number EUR 10
New PUK number EUR 18
irc://irc.freenode.net/fineid (IRC community / support)
http://linux.fi/wiki/HST
http://www.fineid.fi/
http://www.vaestorekisterikeskus.fi/