On 6 and 7 June, Waag Futurelab and PublicSpaces organised the fourth edition of the PublicSpaces conference based on the theme 'Taking Back the Internet'. With panels, keynotes, roundtable sessions, lectures, art and culture, we made our way towards an internet where we collectively set the rules.
Anno 2024, the bulk of digital services and platforms are in the hands of a few commercial Big Tech companies. This centralisation of power is not in line with how the internet was once conceived and even creates society-disrupting problems. From privacy violations to modern slavery practices and from discrimination to influencing election results through biased algorithms, Big Tech's monopoly affects everyone. How do we - as citizens, organisations and governments - regain control of our data and our digital lives? If we want to be able to decide for ourselves what our digital ecosystem looks like, we need to be able to make independent decisions about the design, use and management of the internet. At the conference, speakers, audience and artists discussed data ownership, privacy, interoperability, decentralisation and more. In short: technology based on public values.
Watch the aftermovie:
Missed it?
Did you miss sessions or want to revisit a presentation? The video recordings are now available via the PublicSpaces Conference website.
