This article provides a practical, step-by-step guide for individuals and organizations to reduce dependence on digital services hosted outside the EU by taking small, manageable actions rather than pursuing all-or-nothing strategies. It emphasizes inventorying services, triaging them by importance, exploring realistic alternatives (e.g., Signal, Matrix, Nextcloud), and favoring gradual replacement over dogma. #Nextcloud #ChaosComputerClub
Keypoints
- Digital sovereignty is often discussed abstractly; the article advocates a pragmatic, non-dogmatic approach focused on expanding individual options rather than enforcing autarky.
- Start by taking an inventory of all digital services you use (email, cloud storage, streaming, messengers, social networks, navigation, password managers, etc.).
- Perform a triage: categorize services into “I can’t do without,” “I’d miss it but could live without it,” and “I don’t really need this” to identify priorities and low-effort changes.
- Consider realistic alternatives for key services—examples include Signal/Telegram/Matrix/Threema for messaging, Mastodon/Bluesky/Pixelfed for social networking, and Nextcloud or self-hosting for cloud storage.
- Adopt a “replace instead of switch off” strategy: maintain existing services while gradually introducing alternatives to avoid social friction and loss of connectivity.
- Self-hosting (e.g., Nextcloud) is feasible and often user-friendly, but requires ongoing maintenance (updates, patches, configuration) and may demand time and commitment.
MITRE Techniques
- [N/A ] No MITRE ATT&CK techniques mentioned – ‘No attack techniques are described in the text.’
Indicators of Compromise
- [None ] No indicators of compromise are provided in the article – ‘No IP addresses, file hashes, domains, or filenames are listed.’
Read more: https://www.gdatasoftware.com/blog/2026/01/38347-digital-independence