Is growing interest in independence from the US “data octopus” more than mere actionism?

Germany and Europe: Digital sovereignty as the key to freedom If the invisible hand does not help Disastrous federal IT A center for digital sovereignty Article in iX 12 / 2019 read Germany and Europe are dependent on US software companies. Not only one 2000 on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior came to this judgment Study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), but also numerous articles and documentaries in the media. And even in the German EU Council Presidency, the “expansion of the digital sovereignty of the EU” was included as a priority topic.

“That should have been an issue long ago, if the EU countries If you don’t set up better quickly, they will quickly become the passive material of history, “explains Gerhard Schmid, former Vice-President of the European Parliament and as Echelon rapporteur, familiar with the dangers of European dependencies on US partners long before the Snowden revelations. He regularly referred to the risks of industrial espionage and the loss of location advantages: “It was only after the end of the Cold War that Europe slowly became aware that American technological dominance leads to massive dependencies. And no leading politician in Europe has faced the dangers of being profitable Western investments in China warned of the transfer of technical knowledge associated with it. ”

Decisions about the introduction of new technologies were and will, according to Schmid, be left to the market alone. A comprehensive technology impact assessment by politics that was taken for granted did not take place. “Otherwise one should have recognized very early on that the availability of information technology would become just as important as access to raw materials or energy. Every monopoly leads to increased costs, distortions of competition, unjustified political influence of the monopoly and often to security problems for society.” According to Schmid, this is no different for digital goods than in the “real economy”.

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