Reclaiming digital sovereignty
Haven't seen it posted here, so thought this UCL white paper might be of interest:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2024/dec/reclaiming-digital-sovereignty
This policy paper outlines a progressive reform agenda to enhance digital sovereignty for people and the planet with the following 4 key proposals:
Offer a democratic, public-led digital stack that shall include: 1) Digital infrastructure as a service (for training, processing and developing digital solutions) provided by non-profit and democratic international consortia; 2) universal platforms, such as search engines and foundation AI models, that should be a commons governed by new public institutions with state and civil society representation; and 3) a public marketplace where companies can offer their computing services without lock-ins. To assure demand, states shall procure from this marketplace and end contracts with Big Tech.
Craft a research agenda focused on digital developments that could solve collective problems and enhance human capacities and that consider the ethical, economic, ecological, and political impacts of technology, including of AI applications. For this end, public knowledge networks led by a new public international research agency (or agencies) could counterbalance the concentration of private and closed science.
Ground digital sovereignty in an ecological internationalism an antidote to individual government surveillance and power abuses that also minimises the resources needed to build a democratic, public digital stack.
Establish strict mechanisms to dismantle state surveillance or misappropriation of collective solutions by specific governments. Multilateral agreements on principles and rules for the internet are indispensable safeguards for building autonomous and democratically governed institutions and solutions.
See also this, from one of the authors on the idea of a kind of tech non-aligned movement where countries collectively offer alternatives to US and Chinese big tech: