The German Government is evolving its strategy on digital platforms, as we had already reported earlier (Digital Sovereignty - Participate! Contribute!, Whitebook Digital Platforms in the Makes). The expected White Paper has been published in March 2017. In4com.de has reviewed the paper and summarized the most important results with respect to digital sovereignty being at the core of in4com.de agenda. The civil society has to stay alert due whitepaper shortcomings. Also, ongoing international trade negotiations may have huge negative impacts on privacy and digital sovereignty (in4com.de has commented on this).

2016 Leaks from the TiSA negotiations held in secrecy (Trade in Services Agreement) indicate that TiSA will foil the EU data protection directive of early 2016. TiSA must come under public monitoring and requires an eventual public vote!

Manfred Reitenspiess, owner of in4com.de, has provided extensive comments on the greenbook „Digital Platforms“ (Grünbuch „Digitale Plattformen“) as published by the German Government (we had pointed out the opportunity to contribute in „Digital Sovereignty - Participate! Contribute!). The received comments were summarised by the German Ministry of Economy and Energy BMWE. In4com.de comments were cited a number of times and are completely available for download. In a follow-up step (beginning of 2017) a whitebook is to be published as a step toward a German digital agenda. The whitebook shall come up with specific recommendations and calls for action with respect to the evolution of digital platforms (see the official webpages of the BMWE).

It is no longer a question, but a fact that the Internet is in the car. After discussing a number of useful mobile services in passenger cars, we have to conclude that our digital sovereignty will be lost if we do not take adequate measures. 

The ”Greenbook Digital Platforms (Grünbuch Digitale Plattformen)”, published by the German government in May 2016, is a clear proof that digital sovereignty is recognized as a necessary requirement for a successful digital transformation in Germany and Europe. Important issues with particular reference to the use of data, their economic value and the protection of individual users’ rights are explicitly addressed, looking for solution proposals. A call for action is sent to the public (see https://gruenbuch.de.digital/de/kommentieren/ to contribute and participate actively in the ongoing discussion).Resulting recommendations for follow-up actions are planned for 2017.

Digital Sovereignty is in the list of topics of Germany’s Digital Strategy 2025 … however, more implementation details are required.

Update 2016-06-08: Digital Sovereignty comes in focus on de.digital (in German), see also "Digital Sovereignty - Participate! Contribute!"

It is so easy - everything is for free, just check out the Internet! Click on a free App, download the App, install and run. One can find Apps for nearly everything. And for even the simplest pieces of information you give away whatever is stored about you on your phone. The image shows a quick example what you open up when installing a virus scan tool (I have checked at least 5 of them and only one out of 5 had a reduced set of requirements).

In the course of the ongoing digital transformation data owners will become part of the value chain - our data are valuable - we have to charge for their use!

Data are Entering Blue and White Collar Work

Digital transformation processes, as we know them from the first Internet hype in the year 2000, are entering more and more areas of our society. You find them in the ongoing industrial automation (Industry 4.0), automated driving of cars (autonomous vehicles) and the overall influence of information technology (IT) on mobility (integrated traffic management), or the automation of energy production and its distribution in the optimization of energy use.

The next wave of app(lications) and Internet services will be successful because of data protection!

In Search of the Killer App

The fight for customers and market share in the digital economy is tough. The first mover advantage seems to be most important due to the relatively simple internationalization of Internet services. Well known examples are Google, Amazon, and Facebook. Very often, the market leader offers maximum functionality which is easy to use. Other qualities of the offerings such as security, data protection, Digital Sovereignty are treated only as second in line. In the best case they are perceived as unnecessary, in the worst case, they are seen as detrimental and “killing business”.

Big data and Internet technologies are expected to play an important role for the implementation of a human and affordable health system. However, humans have to be in focus when designing the technology and its use. A decentralized approach and digital sovereignty of users are decisive qualities of the planned technology investments. We are all responsible for requesting and promoting these design criteria for the use of Internet technologies in our health system.

in4comstands for "Industrial Integration In Information and Communications" - the notion dates back to the turn of the century when 3G was widely introduced, UMTS blinked on the horizon, and a tremendous hype around communications and the integration with information technologies started off. As we know now, this was just the initial hype of many more which followed.  The need for an industrial approach to the use of IT and communications has never been bigger than today - we assume in 10 years from now this will still be true.

Think about it - the Internet has grown from a tool of a bunch of nerds into a world-wide available infrastructure, which is used by billions of people, on a professional as well as on personel level.

For each item in the real world, we all profit from a legal framework which allows us to move (more or less) safely about. But what about the digital world? To me this looks much more like Wild West than anything else. In many ways we depend upon the goodwill of international players who confront us with usage regulations 20 pages long before allowing us to use our smartphone which we have paid for!

Digital sovereignty denotes the authority of individuals over their presence and representations in the digital world.

 The definition of digital sovereinty is relatively flurry due to its varying meanings. So for this brief discussion, we have searched for both: digital sovereignty and data sovereignty. What we found was that the terms' interpretations take mainly a governmental view based on definitions for "sovereignty" (different from the terms' use in Germany as discussed in Digitale Souveränität - Was ist das?).

Our digital alter ego  is abundant - and we better take care of it. The concept  of digital sovereignty should help us to manage it.

Each and every one of us has a digital alter ego. But who of us knows, where this alter ego is stored? Even more relevant: which attributes are associated with our alter ego? Or: who is making money from knowing or using our alter ego? May be only partially or in combination with other data? Digital sovereignty – the management or control of our alter ego in the digital world – should help us answer above questions when managing our digital alter ego.

The Security - Protection and Reliability division (Fachbereich Sicherheit - Schutz und Zuverlässigkeit) of the German Computer Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik GI) acts as a forum for all specialists active on topics of security, safety, dependability (reliability, availability). Special interest groups (SIGs) support scientific work as well as the exchange of ideas between science and industry. The cross-over characteristic of security topics is reflected in the divisional organization providing the basis for cross-functional work-groups, conferences and other joint activities between the SIGs, but also with other divisions, industrial partners and society in general.

Manfred was founding member of the division, which started in 2001, and was its elected speaker 2001 - 2006.