Morozov, Evgeny Digital public infrastructure : The social democratic project of the 20th century / Evgeny Morozov.

Evgeny Morozov D I R E K T 08/ 2020 DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE The social democratic project of the twenty-first century OVERVIEW In the twentieth century the social democrats championed not only social justice, but also institutional innovation. Taking on the power of the technology giants provides an opportunity to resume this tra -dition and to launch a new social democratic project. Such a future-oriented project should not be confined to regulating Big Tech, however – it requires a fundamental rethink of digital infrastructure as a public good. First, the bad news. When it comes to Big Tech, we have lost the plot. By "we", I refer to those of us who, in one way or another, feel a relationship with social democracy or socialism. And by "the plot", I do not mean just our understanding of the dynamics of the digital economy and digital capitalism, but also of capitalism as such and the role that social democracy and socialism should be playing in either countering or counterbalancing it. These days, it is all too easy for social democrats and socialists to get a false sense of the priorities and values that ought to be shaping the social democratic or socialist project, not least when it comes to Big Tech and Silicon Valley. Although it is true that social democrats and socialists have traditionally worried about questions of power, rule of law and legality, these things have never been at the top of their agenda. The values that have actually driven the social...