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@@ -3,17 +3,19 @@ marp: true
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header: "Digital Independence Day - Reclaiming Our Digital Autonomy"
footer: "Michał Czechowski"
title: Digital Independence Day - Reclaiming Our Digital Autonomy
---
# Digital Independence Day
## Reclaiming Our Digital Autonomy
**Michał Czechowski**
University Lecturer & Open Source Enthusiast
**Michał Czechowski**
University Lecturer & Open Source Enthusiast
Stuttgart, Germany
*Science in the City Malta • September 17, 2025*
*Science in the City Festival Malta • September 17, 2025*
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![bg left](oracle-lawsuit.png)
- **2014**: Oracle aquires a marketing tech start-up based in Cupertino, California, for around **$400 million**.
- **2016**: Oracle bragged about profiling 5 billion people worldwide, creating detailed cohorts from **sensitive web browsing activity, names, home addresses, email addresses, and cross-device tracking data**
- **$42.4 billion annual revenue** from their BlueKai data brokerage operations, selling personal profiles to advertisers and third parties without consent
- **2024**: Oracle forced to pay $115 million settlement after class action lawsuit led by privacy researchers Michael Katz-Lacabe (USA), Jennifer Golbeck (USA), and Johnny Ryan (Ireland)
<!-- A class action lawsuit is a legal case where one or more people sue on behalf of a large group, or "class," of others who have suffered similar harm from the same defendant. -->
---
# What is Digital Independence?
---
@@ -85,7 +110,7 @@ The **infosphere** - our combined digital and physical reality - means:
**Recent Systemic Failures:**
- Hospital ransomware attacks → patients die from delayed care
- Social media manipulation → electoral interference, democratic erosion
- Social media manipulation → electoral interference, democratic erosion
- Supply chain attacks → economic disruption, infrastructure breakdown
- Platform censorship → suppression of legitimate discourse
- Algorithmic bias → systemic discrimination at scale
@@ -176,25 +201,26 @@ The **infosphere** - our combined digital and physical reality - means:
# Your Liberation Toolkit
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| Category | Proprietary Tool | Primary Risk | FOSS Alternative | Implementation Notes |
|----------|------------------|--------------|------------------|----------------------|
| **Communication** | WhatsApp | Meta surveillance | Signal | End-to-end encrypted, normie-friendly |
| | WhatsApp | Meta surveillance | Element (Matrix) | Decentralized protocol, tech-savvy users |
| | Twitter/X | Manipulation, censorship | Mastodon | ActivityPub federation, choose instance wisely |
| | Discord | Gaming surveillance | Element/Matrix | Bridges available for Discord migration |
| **Web Browsing** | Chrome | Complete web tracking | Firefox | Mozilla Foundation, privacy-focused |
| | Chrome | Complete web tracking | LibreWolf | Firefox without telemetry, hardened |
| **Productivity** | Microsoft Office | Subscription bondage | LibreOffice | Full office suite, document compatibility |
| | Notion | Productivity surveillance | Logseq | Local-first knowledge graphs |
| | Slack | Workplace monitoring | Mattermost | Self-hosted team communication |
| Category | Proprietary Tool | FOSS Alternative | Implementation Notes |
|----------|------------------|------------------|----------------------|
| **Communication** | WhatsApp | Signal | End-to-end encrypted, normie-friendly |
| | | Element (Matrix) | Decentralized protocol, tech-savvy users |
| | Twitter/X | Mastodon | ActivityPub federation, choose instance wisely |
| | Discord | Element/Matrix | Bridges available for Discord migration |
| **Web Browsing** | Chrome/Chromium | Firefox | Mozilla Foundation, privacy-focused |
| | | LibreWolf | Firefox without telemetry, hardened |
| | | Ladybird | Complete rebuild browser from scratch (summer 2026) |
| | Plugins | Block Origin, Privacy Badger etc. | Useful firefox/chromium extension for increased security |
| **Productivity** | Microsoft Office | LibreOffice | Full office suite, document compatibility |
| | Notion | Logseq | Local-first knowledge graphs |
| | Slack | Mattermost | Self-hosted team communication |
| **Video Conferencing** | MS Teams, Zoom | Jitsi Meet | Self-hostable, browser-based meetings |
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| Category | Proprietary Tool | Primary Risk | FOSS Alternative | Implementation Notes |
|----------|------------------|--------------|------------------|----------------------|
| **Cloud & Storage** | Google Drive | Document surveillance | Nextcloud | Complete cloud replacement |
| | Google Photos | Face recognition mining | Immich | Self-hosted photo management |
| | Dropbox | File access tracking | Syncthing | P2P file synchronization |
| **Media** | YouTube | Algorithm addiction | PeerTube | Federated video hosting |
| | YouTube | Algorithm addiction | Invidious | Privacy-focused YouTube frontend |
| **Email** | Gmail | Email content scanning | Proton Mail | Swiss privacy laws protection |
| **Mobile OS** | Android (Google) | Life surveillance | GrapheneOS | Pixel devices only, maximum security |
| | iOS | Apple ecosystem lock-in | LineageOS | Wider device support |
| Category | Proprietary Tool | FOSS Alternative | Implementation Notes |
|----------|------------------|------------------|----------------------|
| **Cloud & Storage** | Google Drive | Nextcloud | Complete cloud replacement |
| | Google Photos | Immich | Self-hosted photo management |
| | Dropbox | Syncthing | P2P file synchronization |
| **Media** | YouTube | PeerTube | Federated video hosting |
| | | NewPipe | Android app, no Google Services needed |
| **Email** | Gmail | Proton Mail | Swiss privacy laws protection |
| **Mobile OS** | Android (Google) | GrapheneOS | Pixel devices only, maximum security |
| | | LineageOS | Wider device support |
| **Desktop OS** | MS Windows | GNU/Linux | Hundreds of different distributions like Ubuntu, Arch etc. |
| | macOS | Asahi Linux | Apple Silicon Macs, experimental support |
<!-- Full table available in presentation notes with password managers, maps, video conferencing, etc. -->
@@ -224,15 +253,15 @@ table {
# Implementation Strategy
**Phase 1 - Low Risk:**
Browser, Search, Email migration
Communication tools, Browser, Search, Office suite
**Phase 2 - Productivity:**
Office suite, Cloud storage, Communication tools
Operating system, Cloud storage, Email communication
**Phase 3 - Infrastructure:**
Operating system, Self-hosting, Complete sovereignty
**Phase 3 - Infrastructure (our goal today):**
Cloud storage, Self-hosting, Complete sovereignty
*Detailed migration paths available in workshop materials*
*For Phase 1 and 2 are hundreds of tutorials out there; I believe in you ❤️*
---
@@ -240,7 +269,7 @@ Operating system, Self-hosting, Complete sovereignty
**Today's Focus:**
- GNU/Linux hands-on exploration
- Installing essential FOSS alternatives
- First terminal commands
- Building your personal migration roadmap
**Take Home:**
@@ -266,12 +295,76 @@ In Floridi's infosphere, our digital choices are political choices.
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# References (1/3)
**Core Theory:**
- Floridi, L. (2014). *The Fourth Revolution: How the infosphere is reshaping human reality*. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780199606726
**Digital Attacks & Surveillance:**
- Cadwalladr, C. & Graham-Harrison, E. (2018, March 17). Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach. *The Guardian*. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election
- Wells, G., Horwitz, J., & Seetharaman, D. (2021, September 14). Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show. *The Wall Street Journal*. https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739
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- Frenkel, S., Bergman, R. & Saad, H. (2024, September 18). How Israel Built a Modern-Day Trojan Horse: Exploding Pagers. *The New York Times*. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/world/middleeast/israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah.html
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# References (2/3)
**Government FOSS Success Stories:**
- The Document Foundation (2024, April 4). German state moving 30,000 PCs to LibreOffice. https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2024/04/04/german-state-moving-30000-pcs-to-libreoffice/
- Gascó, M. (2003). New technologies and institutional change in public administration. *Social Science Computer Review*, 21(1), 6-14. [Extremadura case study]
- Camara, G. & Fonseca, F. (2007). Information policies and open source software in developing countries. *Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology*, 58(1), 121-132. [Brazil open standards]
**Digital Democracy Platforms:**
- Aragón, P., et al. (2017). Deliberative Platform Design: The Case Study of the Online Discussions in Decidim Barcelona. *Social Science Computer Review*, 39(6), 1139-1162. https://decidim.barcelona/
- vTaiwan Project Documentation. (2023). Digital Minister of Taiwan. https://vtaiwan.tw/
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# References (3/3)
**Infrastructure & Surveillance Systems:**
- Kotka, T., Vargas, C.A. & Korjus, K. (2015). Estonia's blockchain-based e-Residency program. *Computer*, 48(9), 106-108. [X-Road infrastructure]
- Greenwald, G. (2014). *No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State*. Metropolitan Books. [PRISM program]
- Liang, F., et al. (2018). Constructing a data‐driven society: China's social credit system as a state surveillance infrastructure. *Policy & Internet*, 10(4), 415-453.
---
# Questions & Discussion
**Resources:**
- Event: malta-digital-independence.org
- FOSS Alternatives: ossmalta.eu
- Contact: michal@czechowski.de
**Additional Resources:**
- Open Source Alternative Directory: https://www.opensourcealternative.to/
- OSS Malta Community: https://ossmalta.eu/
- Presentation Materials: https://dailysh.it/malta
- Contact: malta@dailysh.it
*"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."*
*- Chinese Proverb*