Neil BrownNew blogpost:
"Musings on 'digital sovereignty'"
I wanted to jot down some of my thoughts, before I forgot them.
The more I think about it, the less clear the whole thing seems...
https://neilzone.co.uk/2026/03/musings-on-digital-sovereignty/
Phil Dennis-Jordan@neil As I see it, there are a number of dimensions to this topic, and I think it‘s valuable to consider which dimensions one cares about, and where solutions lie in each dimension. And this will vary greatly depending on the individual, company, or nation state.
- Data sovereignty. Where does the data reside, who has access to it, and who could delete, surreptitiously modify, or deny access to it? Edit: Also, how portable is the data and its format?
1/
- Data sovereignty. Where does the data reside, who has access to it, and who could delete, surreptitiously modify, or deny access to it? Edit: Also, how portable is the data and its format?
1/
@neil
- Commoditisation of services. If renting a service, how much control does the operator have, versus customer/user freedom? How difficult is it to move to a competing service? Can I spread my risk by sourcing from multiple vendors simultaneously?
- Origin of the actual software, & where it runs. This is the one you mostly touch on in your post. I‘ll specifically point out transparency: it can be valuable to be able to inspect and audit the function of software.
2/3
- Commoditisation of services. If renting a service, how much control does the operator have, versus customer/user freedom? How difficult is it to move to a competing service? Can I spread my risk by sourcing from multiple vendors simultaneously?
- Origin of the actual software, & where it runs. This is the one you mostly touch on in your post. I‘ll specifically point out transparency: it can be valuable to be able to inspect and audit the function of software.
2/3
@neil By the sound of it, your own setup already scores pretty "sovereign“ on all dimensions, but the vast majority of people & orgs are beholden to big tech in most regards.
Personally, I‘m in pretty good shape in terms of data, which is the aspect I care most about. I have some data in the “cloud” for convenience or redundancy, but I also have everything offline.
For the software itself, my fussiness varies depending on purpose and sensitivity of the data it touches.
Personally, I‘m in pretty good shape in terms of data, which is the aspect I care most about. I have some data in the “cloud” for convenience or redundancy, but I also have everything offline.
For the software itself, my fussiness varies depending on purpose and sensitivity of the data it touches.