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https://theconversation.com/nearly-everything-we-use-online-is-owned-by-big-tech-theres-a-better-way-forward-282969>
"Globally, users of digital media are increasingly locked into a handful of
operating systems, app stores, and communication platforms. Most of us must
choose between Apple, Windows, or Android. All of these are owned by American
tech giants.
Much of private and government IT infrastructure – websites, mobile banking,
nearly anything online you can think of – uses cloud services, such as Amazon
Web Services, Cloudflare or Microsoft Azure. They might have locations
worldwide, but these are also US companies.
Mobile phones, laptops, smartwatches and more are mostly made by American or
Chinese companies. And it’s getting worse as tech companies embed artificial
intelligence (AI) assistants directly into everyday devices, such as Google’s
Gemini or Microsoft’s Copilot. They’re doing this in ways designed to further
entrench users within particular ecosystems.
When a single cyber security update brought down Windows computers the world
over in 2024, it was a stark reminder nobody should put all their IT eggs in
one basket.
But what might that actually look like? The “digital sovereignty” movement in
the European Union (EU) can show us the way. European countries are gradually
breaking up with American tech giants and pushing for local AI development, all
in the name of achieving digital autonomy."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
