Digital transformation is at the center of the current political agenda, but the digitization of societies has been active for half a century. So the question is not whether digitization will take place, but whether it is being democratic and therefore beneficial for the majority, or not. This is the starting point of the book 'Democratic Digitization. Digital sovereignty for the people' by Simona Levi, director of Xnet, the Institute for Democratic Digitization. Last Monday, September 16, at the cooperative cultural space La Comunal, which is located in Riera d'Escuder, number 38, in Barcelona, Levi presented the book accompanied by journalist Jesús Rodríguez.
"The digitization that we know at the moment and that is done by 'big tech', companies that digitize everything with closed software, whose code only they know, cannot be considered democratic, because we cannot verify the procedures in any way » says Levi. "The only software that is verifiable is free software. Free means that the code is released and therefore anyone can use it and use it. The fact that it is free does not mean that there is not a possibility of entrepreneurship. The business must not be in the privatization of these resources, but in offering services and advice. Often, we ask citizens to use free software, but from the institutions it is not being done, it is not being set an example", adds Levi. The book 'Democratic Digitization. Digital sovereignty for people' wants to give tools to demand from institutions technologies that are open, so that they can be verified and respect rights.
In this context, it should be noted that next Saturday, September 21, the World Free Software Day is celebrated, an international initiative of an annual nature to spread the advantages of using free software, as well as to promote its use. Since 2006, it has been commemorated on the third Saturday of the month of September.