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/
vksxypants@neil your blog is mostly about individuals but I've only really heard 'digital sovereignty' in the context of states, e.g. "France" or "The EU". It makes a lot more sense in that context. We are, to some extent, dependent on US law (and executive power) when we depend on US technology. Our government gives up some degree of sovereignty when it hands govt IT contracts to Microsoft or Palantir, because some element of US law and executive power extends beyond its borders.
@vksxypants I think that most, if not all, of my points apply to governments as well as individuals?
@neil I agree but I think they're weaker with respect to govts, because governments already assess the risk of dependency on foreign states in this way. Military technology is the most obvious, but in the civilian sphere, we also got quite exercised over 5G infrastructure supplied by Huawei. In the past, a US provider of 5G infrastructure would have been seen automatically as "safe", as it would be unthinkable for the US to be considered an adversary in the way that China is. Now though...
@neil I think it makes sense for govts to extend the same thinking from physical infrastructure to digital infrastructure, to reassess the US as a provider of infrastructure, and to frame that as "digital sovereignty" or "cost savings" for political reasons. The substantial question, as always, is *who* do we pool sovereignty with - because, as you identify, it's impossible to entirely "go it alone". Govts are just reassessing the "who", and putting the US increasingly in the "not them" bucket.
@neil for the individual I think "sovereignty" in the narrow definition you make at the start is entirely sufficient.