Constanze Kurz: mass surveillance, Snowden, and the future of digital politics

From Andy's approach to problem-solving and guiding others to his personal values that give him direction, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, community, and personal growth.

In this episode, we explore how open source solutions are revolutionizing the way governments work, from collaboration and knowledge sharing to digital sovereignty and artificial intelligence. Sven shares the factors that influenced their decision to adopt open source solutions, their implementation strategies along the way, and lessons learned from the adoption of open source in Munich.

Edward Snowden's disclosures in 2013 were not only revelatory but also catalyzed a necessary discussion around mass surveillance and yet Constanze argues we've since lost momentum in this critical conversation. She expresses concern that, as the public has become increasingly complacent, the intelligence services have grown even more powerful and influential. We reflect on the changing landscape of hacktivism and investigative reporting, and how policy is struggling to keep pace with modern technological advancements. Constanze also reminds us that there's still much work to be done in addressing the pressing issues facing us today – from mass surveillance and data protection to predictive policing and platform capitalism.

With the recent accelerating pace of innovation, public sector institutions throughout Europe have come to prioritize digital sovereignty as a primary driver in designing resilient IT systems. Manuel Liesenfeld, Head of Head of Public Sector Division at Bechtle AG, discusses the current innovations in the European public sector and the obligation of public buyers to deliver resilient and sovereign digital solutions that put citizens first. We explore how Bechtle - Germany’s largest IT system house - and Nextcloud's recent partnership in offering digitally sovereign collaboration services for the European public sector is an important step in building resilient IT systems that prioritize security and data protection.

So many Nextclouders - from enterprise and education to activists and families - decide to self-host their privacy-focused IT infrastructure. What exactly motivates us to self-host? Is this inherently an increased data security risk? What of the grit needed to host your own digital infrastructure? The answers to these questions may surprise you! Lea Gröber, PhD student in Usable Security @ CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, shares insight from two recent studies exploring motivations in self-hosting and Nextclouders specifically. We explore the topic of Usable Security and how, in terms of security, the human aspect of your digital infrastructure may be the most important, and yet the least understood. Afterall, "Users are not the enemy."

With a rich history throughout the Linux and open source world - from KDE to openSUSE, GNOME and more - Jos' insights into the power of community make it clear why the Nextcloud community is an essential aspect of our vision. With so many key community projects getting integrated and supported fully into Nextcloud, the open source lifestyle runs deep in Nextclouders' culture. If you're curious about the inner workings, personalities, history and friendships at Nextcloud - this episode has it all!

Today's episode features a fireside chat with Nextcloud CEO and founder Frank Karlitschek, where we learn of the values and ideals that motivated the very idea of Nextcloud - how it all began and evolved into the World's leading open source content collaboration platform.

One of the most impressive Nextcloud deployments is certainly Deutsche Telekom's MagentaCLOUD: currently serving 2.2 million active users storing 3.5 billion files, and totaling a massive 7.2 petabytes of data!

Julien Veyssier shares his unique journey from prolific Nextcloud community contributor through joining the Nextcloud team as Software Engineer. We learn how his PhoneTrack app saved a user's family in an emergency, how the Nextcloud ecosystem is a rich canvas for app development, the philosophical differences between Open Source and Free Software, and explore the current state of the artificial intelligence landscape.

Your new host, Brent Gervais, had the opportunity to sit down together with Max Schrems - privacy lawyer and pioneer in the European data privacy movement - to explore some thoughts and ideas that stemmed from Max's keynote given at the Nextcloud Conference 2023. We explore the newly adopted Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework, it's implications and why we all need to care and pay attention. We also touch on the 15-year debate on EU-US data transfers, surveillance law, anti-competitive behaviours in Big Tech and the need for regulation, despite the challenges presented by the process.