FediGov seeks to promote sovereign communication in the public sector
The FSFE Swiss local group launches an initiative with GNU/Linux.ch to encourage public institutions to use federated free software solutions to communicate with their people. FediGov is the name of this campaign that is encouraging people to ask their governments to adopt ethical communications.
Encouraging public institutions to communicate sovereignly is the aim of the FediGov campaign, launched by FSFE Switzerland and GNU/Linux.ch, that is asking individuals to explain to their local authorities the importance of sovereign communication in the public sector.
Public administrations are currently using commercial social networks to establish direct communications, excluding residents that are not using the commercial services but alternatives that allow them to use the Internet in a self-determined and privacy-friendly way.
These alternatives such as the Fediverse are also enjoying growing popularity, for example with many federal authorities in Germany. The Fediverse is a federated social network of free opensoftware servers (referred to as “instances”) with applications such as Mastodon that communicate with each other via a common protocol. Users have the option of operating their own instance or joining existing instances.
This results in an independent and self-determined use and design of digital technologies. It forms the cornerstone for our democracy in an increasingly digitalized society. People are not forced to pass on their data to large corporations in order to be able to communicate with public institutions.
With the FediGov campaign, FSFE Switzerland and GNU/Linux.ch want to raise awareness of the issue and offer both individuals and public authorities direct opportunities for action. Interested parties can use a template to send a letter to public authorities to motivate them to also be represented in the Fediverse. Public institutions are given assistance in dealing with decentralized social networks based on Free Software.