"Public money, public code." – Rasmus Frey, Dataethics.eu

When we hand over the backbone of our welfare state to private tech companies, we lose ownership of our data and infrastructure. Our dependency on closed digital systems from US Big Tech corporations is challenging fundamental European values like transparency, equality, autonomy and digital sovereignty. It then becomes a question about democracy more than a question about technology alone. All across Europe, we are witnessing attempts to combat this dependence.

This public lecture explores the critical importance of open source for achieving digital independence and democratic control, particularly within the public sector.

• Renée Ridgway, researcher at Aarhus University, will present highlights from the Carlsberg Mindelegat-funded project Why Open Source is Important for Democracy. She will be introducing the ethics and values of open source, the democratic principles, along with some alternatives to big tech.

• Rasmus Frey, head of the secretariat at OS2, a voluntary association that helps public authorities with open source solutions and part of the Aarhus Municipality, will elaborate on Why We Need Open Source in the Public Sector – Including Schools. In Denmark, schools rely heavily on Google and Microsoft to provide digital tools, creating deep digital dependencies from a young age, which threatens our privacy, pedagogical self-determination, and fundamental democratic control.

• Pernille Tranberg runs DataEthics.eu, a not for profit politically and economically independent ThinkDoTank that promotes European, preferably open source-based technologies, which focus on human-centric, privacy promoting and ethically data-driven solutions. She will be moderating the event.

After the presentations there will be a panel discussion, followed by an open Q&A with the audience.