Manuel Gebauer
“Recommending people to switch to ‘European tech’ tends to obfuscate the uncomfortable truth that the corporations at home are bound by the same dynamics of capitalism like their US counterparts. […] I would love to see messages and campaigns that combine tips for less terrible alternatives with systemic critique and calls for substantial action. […] If a critique of capitalism and a call to engage in thinking about and moving towards alternatives is not part of a campaign about ‘digital sovereignty’ then such a campaign is a trap that sells us freedom in the form of a larger cage.”

#DiDay #DigtialSovereignty #Socialization

https://www.structural-integrity.eu/a-larger-cage-about-the-ongoing-calls-for-digital-sovereignty/
A larger cage: about the ongoing calls for "digital sovereignty"

Calls for "digital sovereignty" are still everywhere. They are a central narrative of contemporary European economic policies, they serve as powerful justifications for corporations to call for subsidies and they are also omnipresent among progressive digital policy NGOs and activists. Aline has alr

Structural Integrity
Feb 26 at 6:24amWeb
Show threadyazomie (she/her)Feb 28
@snippet The article misses a point though: this campaign of "digital sovereignty" (sigh) is in part a response to the real danger that sooner or later the US might target the whole of EU and there would be a US tech killswitch effect. So this is about dodging that bullet.
Show threadManuel GebauerFeb 28
@Zzyzx

The article doesn't miss the point so much, it rather chooses a much wider perspective from which national strife is not taken as a natural thing and should be overcome together with profit oriented corporations.
Show threadyazomie (she/her)Feb 28
@snippet Oh, I'm not arguing against that either, it's just that, for me and I imagine quite some other people who made the move by now, transitioning away from the US big tech has been decided upon growing awareness that with them we were/are absolutely not in control of our data and even our accounts and devices - if one cares at all about their "digital life", it's enough to trigger a fight-or-flight response. This is as basic and persuasive as things can go.

Otherwise, sadly, not everyone is going to be concerned whether they can actually have a reasonably free speech if they make the mistake, say, of picking a fediverse instance that happens to be based in Germany. I don't support Zionism, so I know better to avoid those instances. This last point though, I must say, doesn't have purely to do with the dynamics of capitalism.