During #39c3, an initiative for #digitalindependence was started. I welcome this attempt to promote alternatives to mainstream software. On every first Sunday of a month, people are motivated to switch from ... to ... well, at this point my dissatisfaction starts.

On the website, the movement is targeting “ultra-rich people” and “monopolistic position”. Of course, everybody understands the anger against those extremely wealthy persons who own and control popular communication platforms, and lauded the authoritarian on 4 September 2025.

Unfortunately, this directs much of the protest against tech companies, us companies, and it promotes a linux distribution that deliberately declares the licence of software a secondary concern. The former is a gateway for populistic anti-americanism, and the arguments and recommendation miss the point of the GPL.

The GNU General Public Licence (GPL) is a very clever move. On the one hand, it enables a user to use, learn about and modify the software. On the other hand, it enforces a continuity of these freedoms. Yet, it does not foreclose the establishment of a professional company, and earning gains from success.

Actually, the GPL is a very good example for explaining the difference between a market economy and capitalism. A market economy is based on the exchange of goods and services deemed as equivalent by the actors. The root of capitalism is the power to enforce an unequal exchange between economic actors. Monopolies are an example of such power – so, in this point the diday-initiative is right. But there is nothing wrong with running a company and getting wealthy with free software.

When it comes to the question of the current US administration, it is – as always in politics – absolutely essential to distinguish a government from the society of the nation-state it governs. As a German, I am very well aware of the possibility of political guilt, which derives from silence and passivity in front of obvious politial crimes. Yet, many citizens of the US, and numerous successful companies oppose the doings of the gang of authoritarians that had a common dinner at the White House on 4 September 2025.

One of the big promises of computers, free software and the internet is the building of a world wide humanity, of course including the US. It is important to support the free software actors and companies in the US that distribute and disseminate the tools we all need and want.

The main point is the defence and promotion of the principle of the GPL, which doesn't have to be re-invented and mustn't be sidelined. Almost every user of free software knows that there still is a lot of work to be done. Many computers wouldn't work wit hout #proprietary software blobs. And not everybody is able to afford a computer with completely free hardware (still rare and quite expensive). However, this has to be distinguished from the absolutely unnecessary usage of proprietary multimedia codecs or monopolilistically governed content in the World Wide Web.

I would welcome a more reflexive initiative for #digitalsovereignty instead of #diday.

Rome wasn't burnt in a day.