other:Public institutions (government agencies, broadcasters, educational institutions) predominantly use proprietary platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The companies behind them can decide who communicates on their platforms and how. Furthermore, by prominently linking and using these services, public institutions advertise those services and get citizens to use them.
We want to convince public authorities to rethink their use of social media. This is possible with the gradual transition to federated free software solutions.
other:Digital sovereignty pursues the goal of enabling the independent and self-determined use and design of digital technologies by the state, organizations and individuals. Decentralized free software solutions give all people and organizations the right to use, understand, distribute and improve them for any purpose. This is a cornerstone for our democracy in an increasingly digitalized society.
other:Citizens should not be forced to give away their data to mega corporations just to be able to communicate with public institutions. The public administration should support citizens in data protection.
other:The use of taxpayers' money should be used for the benefit of the population and to fulfill the legal obligations of public authorities, instead of subsidizing dubious business models of international providers.
other:The use of social networks by large global digital corporations is difficult to reconcile with the new Swiss data protection law. As a public authority, it is necessary to ensure legally secure communication for citizens.
other:With the pilot launch of EU Voice and EU Video, we want to offer alternative social media platforms that prioritise individuals and their right to privacy and data protection.
In this regard, social media are playing an increasingly important role. However, this is also accompanied by a number of pitfalls. These include, for example, the dependence on international IT corporations and their dominant position with regard to free access to communication platforms. This is also associated with the loss of digital sovereignty.
With great concern, we have recently perceived statements by data protection officers who criticize that these networks do not adhere to legal requirements and that far-reaching regulations would be necessary to protect users in terms of data protection law.
Therefore, it is important that the Public Administration uses distributed Free Software services and strengthens such offers, instead of making citizens further dependent on large companies and their behavior.
We would therefore be pleased if your authority also decides to make a contribution to this and in the future uses decentralized free software solutions, such as Mastodon, for communication with citizens.
We appreciate that your agency provides various communication channels to contact and interact with their fellow citizens.
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Social media are playing an increasingly important role in this regard. However, this is also accompanied by a number of pitfalls. These include, for example, the dependence on international IT corporations and their dominant position with regard to free access to communication platforms. This is also associated with the loss of digital sovereignty.
It is with great concern that we have recently heard statements from data protection commissioners criticizing the fact that these networks do not adhere to legal requirements and that far-reaching regulations would be necessary to protect users in terms of data protection.
Therefore, it is important that the public administration uses distributed Free Software services and strengthens such offerings instead of making citizens further dependent on large companies and their behavior.
We would therefore be pleased if your public authority decides to contribute to this and to use decentralized Free Software solutions, such as Mastodon, to communicate with citizens in the future.