Life of Simona Levi (Turin, 1966) is marked by hyperactivity. His parents named him in his honor Simone de BeauvoirRenowned feminist intellectual. Her family includes prominent writers and anti-fascist militants, such as Cousin LeviHolocaust survivor, or Carlo Levi.This combative legacy is ingrained in the DNA of the techno-political strategist who has been based in Barcelona since 1990.
She is now also the coordinator of the Digital Rights Forum Xnet has published’Democratic digitization‘ (Rayo Verde), an essay in which he denounces privatization Internet and advocates building an alternative to hegemony silicon Valley. The Catalan capital celebrates its 9th of October European 4D ConferenceA task that consists of exploring these new paths.
The Internet was born as a free and open space, but today we are dependent on a handful of big companies. What went wrong?
The institutions failed, they preferred to sell the population to these corporations rather than assume their responsibility. They try to blame people for giving up their data, but they do what they can and even privacy-minded people have no choice. The worst part is that this choice exists, but the institutions prefer to act as salespeople for big tech. Let’s stop blaming people for creating a digital world that is auditable, transparent, and democratic.
“They try to guilt people into giving up their data, but everyone does what they can. The worst part is that this option exists, but institutions prefer to work as vendors for big tech.”
What do you think is the reason behind this neglect of administrative work?
I have been an activist for 40 years and I would love to say that everything is due to a very organised scheme of interests, but the truth is that, beyond a section of public servants who make a massive effort, the rest of politics is a disastrous mix of incompetence and arrogance. Many, when in power, are unable to recognise that they know nothing about that sector (technology) and only seek advice from multinationals because they offer them packaged policies. Education policy is designed by Google, not the government.
The neglect of institutional work is due to a disastrous mix of incompetence and arrogance
Does the dominance of giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple or Meta lead citizens to activism?
Yes, and the truth is that it is not necessary to invent new technology. Free and auditable software that can replace Big Tech already exists, already works and is already used by governments and large multinationals. It requires an investment of about three million at European level to scale it. Countries should pool their digitization efforts so that it is public and open source.
In 2020 you promoted a project to deploy free software tools in 10 schools in Barcelona and thus reduce dependence on Google.
Yes, we promoted it with initial funding from the City Council, demonstrating that this free software is possible. However, at the moment it is not receiving any other investment, so we cannot deploy it in all schools despite the very high demand.
Introduction to C Programming LanguageWhat condition is it in?
Last year we signed an agreement with the Generalitat to expand the project, but we also started talks with cities in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. The talks are very slow because we have the prototype and the states want to start first. This is another perversion of politics: we just want our work to be recognized and if a country later invests a lot of money in the project it can take all the glory.
An alternative is possible. There is a feeling of helplessness in society, but in reality we are moving forward thanks to the struggle
What is the threat from Google?
With Google we are losing the right to privacy of communication that we obtained with postal mail in 1705. The Internet allows communication between peers without the need for an intermediary, but Google sees all our correspondence and, if it wants, transfers it to others. This authority. It does not respond to efficiency, but to authoritarian will. In 2010, ahead of many other companies, the Generalitat signed an agreement to install Gmail free of charge in many public administration services. This happened due to a bad political decision. It is time to reverse it.
Is it possible to create an alternative to the dominance of Silicon Valley?
If possible. There is a sense of helplessness in society, but in reality we are moving forward thanks to the struggle. Maybe some European laws are bad, but they are the best in protecting privacy and helping us to improve. Civil society is doing a lot of work, from starting legal battles to new projects. Therein lies the way to reverse this path of dystopia proposed by Elon Musk on our institutions and duty.
We let ourselves be dazzled by social networks and no laws were made until the damage was done. Is history repeating itself with AI?
We are bandaging the wound, but without being able to break the monopoly of these companies. Once again, the free software community is building an alternative to that model, but politicians only talk to OpenAI and all these messiah gentlemen who say that without them the world will end. Our institutions are flimsy. We have to revise governance because it is always civil society that advances rights and must be listened to as the engine of change.
Nevertheless, and although there is a lot of talk about technological sovereignty, we later saw Pedro Sánchez close the deal for Microsoft as the person in charge of the digitization of the public administration in Spain.
We have already seen this story with the invention of the printing press. The end result was ‘copyright’, an alliance between the great powers and the owners of the machines so that they act as police. What seems like mere incompetence is also totalitarianism: an alliance so that power remains in a non-democratic way, maintaining control over private content and data, with the population being involved as little as possible. Furthermore, since they give their services for free, they skip all public tenders, destroying the European digital entrepreneurial infrastructure. If you always give all the work to Big Tech, you do not allow local ecosystems to flourish.
The problem is not the laws, the problem is how they are misinterpreted so that nothing changes
The EU has opted for technical regulation. However, drawn report published at the beginning of the month, and which could set the course for the next European Commission, has said that these rules are “inconsistent and restrictive” and that they are a problem for innovation…
What is hindering is not the law but the lack of implementation. When the General Data Protection Regulation was implemented in Spain I spoke to the head of the PSOE because it was not being done correctly and freedom of expression was not protected, even though it was specified in the original text. This led to the rules being used to block access to information, which is crazy. He answered me that there is no need to move it because the courts will do it, but only the richest can go there. The problem is not the laws, the problem is how they are misinterpreted so that nothing changes.
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