During the State of the Internet, Waag Futurelab gauges the state the internet is in each year. In this 30th anniversary year of Waag, the lecture will be given by none other than Waag's founder and director Marleen Stikker.
Since tech billionaires have access to the White House, there is an urgent realisation that we are extremely dependent on big tech. With one decree from Trump or a push of a button from Musk, our society is completely disrupted. According to Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, we must prepare for war. The question is whether we have already lost that war in the digital domain. What can we do to regain our ownership on the digital domain? What strategy should we choose as Europe and the Netherlands?
In this seventh edition of the State of the Internet, Marleen Stikker argues that the focus should not be on shareholder interests or the big pockets of corporate Netherlands, but on the resilience and agency of European citizens, organisations and its democratic institutions. That means not only enforcing necessary European laws, but also investing in knowledge and technology based on public and democratic values, the so-called EuroStack. A good start is the #MakeSocialsSocialAgain campaign, in which civil society and cultural organisations take back responsibility for moderation of social media.
How do we return to an internet where we have control over technology and our data? We would love to see you at this special edition of the State of the Internet at the Brakke Grond in Amsterdam!
Programme
Panelists and fringe programming to be announced soon.
Accessibility
If you are tight on funds and want to participate in this event, please get in touch with thieu [@] waag [dot] org.
About 30 years of Waag
This year marks Waag Futurelab's 30th anniversary. From the first ‘social medium’ De Digitale Stad (The Digital City), accessible to a wide audience, via designing a sustainable modular Fairphone, or the first training for Biohackers in Europe, to advising the State Secretary for Digital Affairs and a citizens' network in North Holland: for 30 years, Waag has been working on realising grip on technology for everyone. That grip on technology is at the
