On 6 and 7 June, PublicSpaces and Waag Futurelab will organise the fourth edition of the PublicSpaces conference with the theme 'Taking Back the Internet'. During the two-day programme at Pakhuis de Zwijger, through panels, keynotes, roundtable sessions, lectures, art and culture, we will work our way towards an internet where we collectively set the rules. Put it in your agenda!
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 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. During the conference, we will therefore engage with speakers, audience and artists on data ownership, privacy, interoperability, decentralisation and more. In short: technology based on public values.