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Digital Independence Day
Reclaiming Our Digital Autonomy
Michał Czechowski
University Lecturer & Open Source Enthusiast
Stuttgart, Germany
Science in the City Malta • September 17, 2025
About Me
Michał Czechowski
- University Lecturer at DHBW Stuttgart & LFH Hannover
- 20+ years software engineering experience
- FOSS transformation specialist
- Passionate about empowering digital independence
"From surviving authoritarianism to building digital freedom"
What is Digital Independence?
Digital Independence
Beyond Just "Privacy"
Digital Autonomy = Democratic Control Over Our Information Systems
- Individual Level: You decide what runs on your devices
- Societal Level: Communities control their digital infrastructure
- Democratic Level: Transparent, accountable technology governance
Not anti-technology — pro-democratic technology
Why Does Digital Autonomy Matter?
We Live in a Hyper-Historical World¹
Information systems ARE society now:
- 🏥 Healthcare: Patient records, life support systems
- 🚚 Logistics: Supply chains, food distribution
- 💳 Finance: Payments, banking, economic stability
- 📰 Democracy: Press freedom, public discourse
- 🎓 Education: Knowledge access, critical thinking
¹ Luciano Floridi, "The Fourth Revolution"
When Digital Systems Fail...
Society Fails
Recent Examples:
- Hospital ransomware → patients die
- Social media manipulation → democracy erodes
- Supply chain attacks → economic disruption
- Platform censorship → silenced voices
Digital dependence without digital control = societal vulnerability
Who Opposes Digital Autonomy?
The Opposition Alliance
Big Tech + Authoritarians = Shared Interests
- 🏢 Surveillance Capitalism: Extract data, manipulate behavior
- 👑 Autocrats: Control information, suppress dissent
- 🎯 Weapon Systems: Turn civilian tech into weapons
"If you're not paying for the product, you ARE the product"
Real-World Digital Attacks
Cambridge Analytica (2018): 87 million Facebook profiles → election manipulation
Meta's Teen Experiments (2021): Deliberately harmful algorithms on young users
Israel-Lebanon Pager Attack (2024): Consumer devices weaponized remotely
Palantir Surveillance (ongoing): Military-grade surveillance sold to corporations
TikTok Algorithm (ongoing): Foreign influence on domestic youth culture
Who's Fighting Back?
Digital Independence Heroes
🇩🇪 Schleswig-Holstein: Entire state migrating to Linux + LibreOffice
🇫🇷 Lyon: 17,000 computers switched to Ubuntu, saved €2M annually
🇪🇸 Extremadura: 200,000 students on Linux-based education system
🇮🇹 South Tyrol: Complete OpenOffice migration for government
🇧🇷 Brazil: Constitutional requirement for open standards in government
FOSS vs. "Open Source" vs. Proprietary
Proprietary: Black box, vendor control, surveillance built-in
"Open Source" (Silicon Valley): Android-style → still controlled by Google
Free & Open Source Software (FOSS):
- Transparent code
- Community governance
- User freedom guaranteed
- No surveillance by design
How to Gain Digital Autonomy
Your Liberation Toolkit
Start Small, Think Big
Communication: Signal → Matrix → Mastodon
Browsing: Firefox → LibreWolf
Office: LibreOffice → OnlyOffice
Cloud: Nextcloud → self-hosted
OS: Linux Mint → eventually full GNU/Linux
Each swap = one less surveillance point