Digital Independence Day

Reclaiming Our Digital Autonomy

Michał Czechowski
University Lecturer & Open Source Enthusiast
Stuttgart, Germany

Science in the City Festival Malta • September 17, 2025

About Me

Michał Czechowski

• University Lecturer at DHBW Stuttgart & LFH Hannover
• 20+ years software engineering experience
• FOSS transformation specialist
• Polish-German background: generational experience with authoritarian control
• Passionate about empowering digital independence through democratic technology

"From surviving authoritarianism to building digital freedom"

• 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)

What is Digital Independence?

Digital Independence

Democratic Control Over Information Systems

Digital Autonomy: The capacity for individuals and societies to make informed, voluntary decisions about their digital tools and data

• Individual Level: You control what software runs on your devices
• Societal Level: Communities govern their digital infrastructure
• Democratic Level: Transparent, accountable technology governance

Democracy enhanced by autonomy leads to better societal outcomes

Why Does Digital Autonomy Matter?

The Fourth Revolution: Living in the Infosphere

Luciano Floridi's Core Thesis: We now inhabit a "hyper-historical" world where the distinction between online and offline life has collapsed.

The infosphere - our combined digital and physical reality - means:

• Information systems ARE the infrastructure of modern society
• Digital dependencies create systemic vulnerabilities
• Control over information systems equals control over society itself

We are no longer users of digital tools - we are inhabitants of digital reality

Critical Infrastructure Dependencies

When information systems control:

• Healthcare: Electronic records, diagnostic systems, life support
• Logistics: Supply chains, transportation networks, food distribution
• Finance: Payment systems, banking infrastructure, economic stability
• Democracy: Media platforms, electoral systems, public discourse
• Education: Learning platforms, research access, knowledge distribution

Single point of failure = societal breakdown

When Digital Systems Fail, Society Fails

Recent Systemic Failures:

• Hospital ransomware attacks → patients die from delayed care
• 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

Digital dependence without democratic control = societal vulnerability

Who Opposes Digital Autonomy?

The Opposition Alliance

Surveillance Capitalism Model:

• Extract behavioral data at unprecedented scale
• Manipulate user behavior through algorithmic control
• Create dependencies to maintain market dominance

Authoritarian State Interests:

• Monitor and control population behavior
• Suppress dissent through platform manipulation
• Weaponize civilian technology infrastructure

Shared Goal: Centralized control over information systems

Real-World Digital Attacks

Cambridge Analytica (2018): 87 million Facebook profiles harvested for election manipulation

Meta's Teen Depression Experiments (2021): Deliberately harmful algorithms tested on adolescents

Israel-Lebanon Pager Attack (2024): Consumer communication devices remotely weaponized

Palantir Surveillance Infrastructure: Military-grade population monitoring sold to corporations and governments

TikTok Algorithmic Influence: Foreign state influence over domestic youth culture and political discourse

Who's Fighting Back?

Digital Independence Success Stories

Schleswig-Holstein: Complete state migration to Linux and LibreOffice, ending Microsoft dependency

Lyon: 17,000 government computers migrated to Ubuntu, saving €2M annually in licensing costs

Extremadura: 200,000 students educated on Linux-based systems, creating digital literacy without vendor lock-in

South Tyrol: Government-wide OpenOffice deployment, demonstrating scalable alternatives

Brazil: Constitutional requirement for open standards in government systems

FOSS vs. "Open Source" vs. Proprietary

Software Models Compared

Proprietary Software:

• Black box code, vendor control, only licenses
• Surveillance capabilities built-in

"Open Source" (Silicon Valley):

• Source visible but corporate-controlled
• "Open washing" marketing tactics

Free & Open Source Software (FOSS):

• Community governance, transparent code
• Privacy by default, no surveillance by design

How to Gain Digital Autonomy

Your Liberation Toolkit

Your Liberation Toolkit (continued)

Implementation Strategy

Phase 1 - Low Risk:
Communication tools, Browser, Search, Office suite

Phase 2 - Productivity:
Operating system, Cloud storage, Email communication

Phase 3 - Infrastructure (our goal today):
Cloud storage, Self-hosting, Complete sovereignty

For Phase 1 and 2 are hundreds of tutorials out there; I believe in you

Workshop Implementation Guide

Today's Focus:

• GNU/Linux hands-on exploration
• First terminal commands
• Building your personal migration roadmap

Take Home:

• Bootable Linux USB drive
• Curated software recommendations
• Community connection for ongoing support

Each participant leaves with practical next steps

Call to Action

Digital Independence is Democratic Necessity

In Floridi's infosphere, our digital choices are political choices.

Today's Workshop: Hands-on GNU/Linux exploration
Your Mission: Begin your liberation journey
Our Goal: Build digitally sovereign communities

The future of democracy depends on who controls our information systems

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

• 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

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/

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

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