Joining forces for data protection

[Shishirgano9]

With the all-powerful GAFAM and their capitalist data model on one side, and the BATX with their “communist” exploitation on the other, Europe seems more than ever to need an independent digital infrastructure. This week, a German alliance of scientists, IT experts and media executives, led by former SAP CEO Henning Kagermann and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) CEO Ulrich Wilhelm, called on the European Union to set up an “Independent Digital Infrastructure”.

Their call highlights the urgency of finding an alternative to the American and Chinese Internet giants.

The strategic document with the multilingual teacher database title " European Public Sphere – Gestaltung der Digitalen Souveränität Europas " (European Public Sphere – Shaping Europe's Digital Sovereignty) reads almost like a declaration of independence . According to the authors of the project, the establishment of an independent digital ecosystem would be the only way to defend European values ​​of diversity, privacy and openness in the face of the omnipotence of existing models.


The Covid-19 crisis and the lockdown have once again demonstrated the enormous dependence of Europeans on digital giants: the forced digital transformation has indeed played out in favor of social networks, the cloud and other communication systems , all domiciled outside Europe. But can the digital space really become more than an amplifier of social currents?