The Braindump Blog

The Open Rights Group's very comprehensive report on the importance of Digital Sovereignty

· Braindump

The Open Rights Group has produced an extremely comprehensive report on the need for Britain to make progress towards digital sovereignty, rather than have the whole function of our country’s governance and public sector dependent on a handful of private for-profit tech companies, sometimes with a history of moral crimes, that are are essentially under some level the control of foreign leaders (Trump , Xi).

Notably, the report provides a definition of this somewhat non-obvious concept.

…the right and ability of political entities to autonomously (independently and/or self-determinedly) use and control tangible and intangible assets and digital services that significantly impact democracy, the economy and society.

That is to suggest that we should want our government to have some control over how our country works. Makes sense, right?

It is absolutely absurd that folk ever would argue against this, and yet, in effect, they do.

Here’s some snippets from their handy summary, as I slowly work my way through the main report’s 132 pages.

  • Digital Sovereignty is critical for the UK’s economic and national security.
    It is defined as the ability of a country to have control over its digital infrastructure, data, and technology.

  • The UK is currently facing a crisis of digital dependency.
    The country is overly reliant on a small number of tech giants for its critical digital infrastructure, which poses significant economic, security, legal, and policy risks, including to democracy and public debate.

  • A strategic shift to using and growing the Digital Commons — that is, open technologies — provides the most effective path to Digital Sovereignty.
    This includes shared Open Source software, open standards, and open hardware, which can foster a more competitive and innovative domestic tech sector, reduce costs, and enhance security.

What are the costs of our digital dependency? There are many: Economic risks, security risks, surveillance risks and policy risks.

And the UK’s current position?

  • The UK lacks a coherent Digital Sovereignty strategy.

  • The Government’s analysis of the ‘chronic’ risks is classified, precluding public debate of its approach.

  • Government IT procurement is dysfunctional.

  • Competition and data protection enforcement have been weakened.

Prioritising digital sovereignty in the ways they suggest could help with both “building the economy” and “international collaboration”

What should be done?

  • Embrace the Digital Commons of Open Source
  • Strengthen competition and regulation
  • Build digital leadership in Government
  • Foster international collaboration

And so the government should:

  • Reset UK digital policy to make Digital Sovereignty a central strategic goal.

  • Drive competition and effective regulation to create a more level playing field for UK businesses.

  • Deliver ‘Public Code for Public Money’ to build a commons of publicly-owned software.

  • Invest in the UK’s Open Source ecosystem through procurement, tax incentives and skills development.

  • Build digital leadership within government to drive the transition to open technologies.

  • Protect democracy by promoting a more diverse and open social media landscape.

I deeply hope that our elected representatives pay some attention to this call to action rather than get further reliant on the foreign companies apparently favoured by their current strategy, not least Palantir.

Our country will be much stronger, much more resilient, if we actively pursue a strategy that doesn’t depend on the good will of random Twitter-pilled billionaires and the political leaders of countries that can’t even really be considered reliable allies at present. Other countries seem to be heading that way. So must we.

As a side note, the Open Rights Group appears to be the nearest equivalent to the famous Electronic Frontier Foundation in the US. For anyone concerned about the digital sovereignty topic or mitigating the myriad of other ways that the government and other powerful actors seek to impose potentially dangerous or misguided technology and associated legislation upon us, they would be well worth supporting.

We fight for your human rights in the digital age, campaigning for a fair digital environment where technology supports equality, justice and freedom.

Their 6 suggested manifesto pledges for the most recent British general election give a taste of some of their priorities:

  • Protect our right to send private messages.
  • Provide migrants with digital sanctuary.
  • Ban the use of pre-crime AI by the police.
  • Defend our right to freedom of expression online.
  • Strengthen our data protection rights.
  • End intrusive tracking by online advertisers.