Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft (GAFAM) earned $79.2 billion in 2018. They are the owners of the digital world and in our daily lives they are often more present than we would like: the contents of friendly communications, the ways we move from one place to another or the information we get, almost all of us get through these companies.
In addition to the problems that affect privacy, these companies can influence the future of peoples and states: from election results to concrete public policies. The issue of privacy has been just a concern of hacktibists, but now the German state itself is also concerned about technological sovereignty, all the servers of its administration are obliged to be in Germany.

Data, 21st century oil

Our location, consumption habits, life rhythms, religious and political thoughts... GAFAMs does not exclude a single data. We have a large network of companies dedicated to understanding and researching human behavior that sell information to advertising agencies and big business marketing departments. And of course, the CIA and the intelligence services don't get away from this kind of valuable information.

It is included in the conditions of use that we accept when users register at any service. It is usually ensured that “proper use of data” will be made, but for example, the Google Drive service that uses a large part of the population and organizations says: “When you upload, store, transmit or receive content, to our Services or through our Services, you grant Google (and those who work with us) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (for example, translate, adapt or modify your content to work better on our Services), communicate, publish, publicly reproduce, or display and distribute them.”

The Cambridge Analytica scandal has hit Facebook in recent years. The social network provided the research company with 87 million users in the framework of the US presidential elections. Apparently, thanks to these people's opinions and behaviors, politicians adapted their campaigns and their speeches, achieving a notable influence on electoral outcomes. According to a report by The New Yorks Times, the YouTube platform also played an important role in the rise of the Brazilian extreme right, proposing extreme right-wing referents to users looking for guitar courses, cooking recipes or DIY videos.

Stop feeding the algorithm?

We are not, therefore, in the context of conspiracy theories: today and here, starting with our own pocket, we are feeding a giant monster that can be predicted by going beyond the conflicts that have taken place so far.

This concentration of power is similar to autocracies. 90% of global searches are done on Google. In it, the websites manage to position themselves according to the algorithms, but those that are not on the first page become almost invisible; only 1% of the users reach the second page, let us not say that the third and fourth page... Of course, algorithms are not neutral. The companies and interests behind him turn to one side or the other, naming fake news to the powers between powers.

They directly impose political censure, without concealing anything. On 12 September, Twitter deleted the accounts of Cuba’s politicians and media, without giving any further explanation. Something similar happened, in May, with several media outlets close to the Government of Venezuela.

There is a conflict between data and consumers that resembles the dialectic of the slave and owner of Hegel. The data we generate is the main gasoline of these companies, especially on Google and Facebook. It's not about data becoming more important than ever, but it's about us now mapping our people's phones for Google and our most important actions.

There will be another direction

The first step in tackling the problem is to become aware of it. We often call cloud -- cloud, cloud, nuage -- that ethereal space that we think looks like the Internet. Of the companies that are behind without being aware and of the power competition. To all this, this year’s Euskarabildua day adds several names to the list of surnames.

This year’s Euskarabildua days have been organized by Iametza, Ametzagaiña and ARGIA. Despite touching many edges, consideration will be given to technological sovereignty and the importance of the transition needed to reach this situation n.Dos
terms that are often confused are free software and technological sovereignty. Free software is a type of philosophy and practice that is based on principles such as the use, copying, analysis, adaptation and distribution of technology once acquired. However, technological sovereignty is not about a way of working, nor about licences: it is about escaping the enormous control that fewer and fewer private companies have.

Current user habits and existing tools must be taken into account when talking about the transition. In this sense, free software also offers new fields of freedom: we can take tools created by other developers and adapt them to our environment. Like Mastodon.eus, the new social network created and controlled in a Community way for the Basque Country can be regulated and operated more horizontally. The technology that the Basque country will understand is also being created in the Common Voice initiative, among other initiatives.

24 October in San Telmo

The newly created Social and Transformative Economy Network (TEKS) will open the days with the aim of putting on the table the need for technological sovereignty in the Basque Country. TEKS presented itself last July at Errenteria and brings together technology players and citizens who will work locally. Registration to participate in the conference is open on the portal www.euskarabildua.eus.

The longest presentation of the day will be that of the cyberfeminist Alex Haché. It is the one that works the farthest from Euskal Herria. She now works with several communities in the Amazon, bringing together the technological and feminist perspective to enable processes of resilience among peoples.

As last year, San Telmo will be attended by UPV/EHU professor Xabier Barandiaran. Last year he stressed the need for technological sovereignty and this year he will try to show how institutions can make that transition.

This year’s other international Euskarabildu rapporteur will be Frank Karlitschek, one of the founders of NextCloud. NextCloud is a platform for providing services similar to Google, but free. This means that each one can have on their own servers a platform such as Drive or an application such as Calendar, without having to transfer their information to third parties, or above all to unknown and powerful third parties.

In addition to the TEKS network, several interesting examples of Euskal Herria will be presented: iametza, Asier Iturralde for example, Other social networks are possible: The City of Bilbao will offer a talk in which free projects and social networks and in Basque will be shown. The City Hall of Pasaia has been working with free software for several years, and Rafael Puy will explain how this process has been carried out and how it goes. Finally, Alex Gabilondo and Sonia Ortiz de Arri will analyze the importance of technological sovereignty in education and the possibilities that exist in the berritzegunes of Irun and Donostia-San Sebastián.Como the
CC license and the philosophy of sharing is one of the pillars of free software, ARGIA will also participate in the day. The talk will be given by Axier López and Xabier Letona. If we leave together and free, ARGIA and CC licenses. They will explain how ARGIA works in the field of free content and how they see the issue in the Basque media.