The term “digital sovereignty” is currently on everyone’s lips—and for good reason. At the latest since the incident involving the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, whose Microsoft email account was politically motivatedly blocked, resulting in the Court’s work being almost brought to a standstill for a period of time.This made it clear how real and immediate digital dependencies can be today.
(read more here: https://www.heise.de/news/Strafgerichtshof-Microsofts-E-Mail-Sperre-als-Weckruf-fuer-digitale-Souveraenitaet-10387368.html)
The problem is not new—just more visible
Long before this specific case, it was already clear that data stored within the systems of major US tech corporations is not fully protected from access by the US government. At the latest with the US CLOUD Act, it is legally established that data belonging to non-Americans may, under certain circumstances, be accessed without a judicial order—provided the communication runs via US services.
(read more here: https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/Wie-der-US-CLOUD-Act-das-europaeische-Datenschutzdilemma-verschaerft-10518058.html?seite=all)
This means: even if servers are physically located in Europe, the data stored there is not necessarily protected from US access as long as the provider is subject to US law.
Authorities and companies are beginning to rethink
This realization is now leading to a shift in thinking at the institutional level as well. More and more authorities and organizations are recognizing that this form of dependency can quickly become business-critical. One example is the state government of Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt, which is increasingly engaging with open-source alternatives.
(source: https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/sachsen-anhalt/digital-leben-open-source-fans-sachsen-anhalt100.html)
What used to be considered a “nice to have” is now becoming a question of operational capability.
Why digital sovereignty also makes sense for you personally
Digital sovereignty is not an abstract political issue—it affects you as well. A key concept here is diversification. Just like in other areas, it increases resilience and reliability to be able to choose one’s services.
One scenario may seem unlikely today, but it is not impossible: if a serious geopolitical conflict were to occur, US vendors could be forced to shut down certain services—for example Microsoft Word or other core tools. Those who have built up alternatives early on are prepared. However, other situations are even more likely:
- When entering the United States, social media accounts can be scanned to assess whether someone is considered a potential threat.
- If you are politically active and primarily work with US services, the likelihood that your accounts will be blocked or restricted increases.
- Platforms often make decisions automatically—and not always transparently.
And last but not least: you can save money by replacing paid software with open-source alternatives. This also helps promote these open-source alternatives and broaden the available ecosystem.
The big question: how do you get started?
Many services are deeply embedded in our daily lives—especially messengers and social networks, where the so-called “critical mass” is decisive. People outside these platforms are often hard to reach. A complete switch from one day to the next is therefore unrealistic.
That’s why the most important first step is: letting go of perfectionism. Complete digital autonomy is currently hardly achievable—and not necessary either. The better approach: start small and build momentum.
1. Change—and diversify—your default search engine
Change the default search engine in your browsers from Google or Bing to alternatives such as:
- Ecosia
- DuckDuckGo
- Qwant
- or another search engine of your choice
Important:
Do this in every browser you use—and ideally, each browser should use a different search engine. This also applies to smartphones, tablets, and work computers. Here is a blog article I wrote on this topic: Organize your most important program on the computer
Advantages:
- You get used to different search results.
- It becomes harder to build a comprehensive search profile about you.
- You automatically leave the Google or Microsoft bubble.
2. Diversify browsers
Many people use only their OS’s system browser (Safari or Edge) and maybe Chrome. This is problematic because these browsers are often linked to your account across multiple devices—and in the case of Chrome, are explicitly optimized for tracking
(read more here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/08/google-breaks-promise-block-third-party-cookies)
Therefore, it makes sense to deliberately use browsers for different purposes.
At a minimum, you should install Firefox in addition, to have a real alternative outside of system browsers and Chrome—especially for activities where privacy matters to you.
3. Switch your email client
On mobile devices this is often a bit more difficult due to better system integration. On a laptop or desktop computer, however, switching makes a lot of sense.
Instead of Outlook or the macOS Mail client, you can switch to Thunderbird. Thunderbird is developed by the Firefox Foundation and offers:
- integrated RSS feeds
- support for various chat protocols
- encryption features
This makes Thunderbird a solid and powerful alternative to proprietary mail clients.
4. Diversify email accounts (or use your own domain)
I do not generally advocate leaving Gmail or other large providers immediately. Instead, I recommend—similar to browsers—diversifying email accounts for different purposes.
If, however, you want or need to manage only a single account, investing in your own email domain is worthwhile. This usually costs less than €10 per month and gives you significantly more control over:
- encryption
- archiving
- provider changes
Alternatively, you can switch to privacy-friendly providers such as Proton or Tuta.
In my opinion, a custom domain is the better long-term solution—it costs hardly more, offers more flexibility, looks more professional, and: no one can take your address away from you if you ever become rich and famous 😉.
5. Messengers: gradually switch to Signal
Moving away from WhatsApp, Telegram, or even Facebook Messenger (🙈) to Signal is another important step. Signal offers:
- true end-to-end encryption
- significantly better handling of metadata
- a strong community of privacy focused individuals supporting the development of the service
The challenge here is the network effect: often fewer contacts are (yet) active there. That’s why a gradual transition makes sense:
- Only reply once or twice a day on other messengers.
- Actively let your contacts know that you are easier to reach on Signal.
- Gradually reduce your use of other messengers.
- Eventually delete the messengers you don’t use any more altogether.
6. Reduce social media—or use alternatives
Completely leaving social media can make sense, but it’s not realistic for everyone. In another article, How to Delete Your Social Media Account Correctly? A Guide, I described background information and pro arguments for a strong reduction of social media services in detail.
If you still want to use social networks, there are less toxic alternatives such as:
- Bluesky
- Mastodon
These can be viable options for staying connected without fully surrendering to the well-known platforms.
7. Word processing: leave the Microsoft and Google ecosystem
For private use—where deep integration into corporate tools is not crucial—LibreOffice or the online service Collabora are excellent alternatives.
Advantages:
- clear financial savings
- almost identical feature sets
- support for open standards
- significantly fewer privacy concerns
This way, you support open software and make yourself more independent from major platform providers.
8. The bigger step: switching operating systems
More demanding, but very effective, is switching your laptop or PC to an open operating system such as:
- Fedora
- Ubuntu
- Debian
This step alone massively reduces your dependency—even if you continue to use individual proprietary services.
If you’ve achieved this, you’re already very far along. More difficult topics like mobile operating systems can be addressed later. In my opinion, it is often more sensible to limit the use of mobile devices rather than deeply intervening in their operating systems (see article, How to turn your smartphone into your personal Swiss army knife – Part 1).
Inspiration: the CCC’s “Digital Independence Day”
This article was inspired by a project of the Chaos Computer Club: the Digital Independence Day: https://di.day/category/rezepte/.
There you’ll find alternatives to well-known digital services and step-by-step instructions, as well as information about on-site workshops where you can exchange ideas with other interested people and experts on the topic.
A great entry point for anyone who doesn’t want to start alone!
Checklist
- Change your default search engine to an alternative such as DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, or Qwant, and use different search engines in different browsers whenever possible.
- Install at least one additional browser alongside your default browser (e.g., Firefox) and use browsers deliberately for different purposes.
- Switch to an independent mail client such as Thunderbird instead of relying exclusively on system- or provider-bound clients.
- Diversify your email addresses or use your own domain to remain independent of providers in the long term.
- Gradually begin switching to Signal by limiting your use of other messengers.
- Reduce your use of major social media platforms or try alternatives such as Mastodon or Bluesky.
- Gradually replace proprietary software with open-source alternatives.