Digital Self-determination
Take Back Your Digital Life
A community guide to privacy, sovereignty, and resilience in the digital age.
What is Digital Self-determination?
Digital self-determination is the right of individuals and communities to decide how their data, identity, and participation are governed in the digital world. It's rooted in political philosophy and collective rights, emphasizing agency + context + power structures.
This isn't just about what tools you use — it's about who controls the systems you're embedded in.
Examples in practice:
- Indigenous data governance movements (e.g. OCAP® principles)
- Digital sovereignty debates (EU, Global South)
- Community-run platforms and protocols (Mastodon, Solid, Matrix)
Why This Matters
"If a product is free, you are the product."
In exchange for the convenience of free apps and platforms, we often trade away our privacy and personal data. Tech giants collect our photos, chats, and browsing habits — then quietly harvest and exploit this information for profit.
This isn't abstract policy. It affects ordinary people:
- Targeted ads following us everywhere
- Sensitive information potentially leaking
- Communities having little control over online spaces
The Three Pillars
Digital self-determination rests on three interconnected ideas:
Privacy by Design 🪴
Tools and services built to protect your privacy by default, so you don't have to be an expert to stay safe. The tool itself does the privacy work.
Digital Sovereignty 🌿
Owning and controlling your digital information and infrastructure. You decide where your data lives and who can access it.
Digital Resilience 🌿
The skills and habits to stay safe and strong online, even when technology or threats change. Building capacity, not dependency.
Security Culture (practice layer) — How communities enact privacy, sovereignty, and resilience together through shared norms. See Security Culture as Digital Literacy.
Core Questions
- What does it mean to have agency in digital spaces?
- How do we balance convenience with control?
- What skills and knowledge enable digital self-determination?
- How can tool choices become opportunities for learning?
The Toolkit
Practical tools for taking back control:
| Need | Privacy-First Solution | Why It Protects You |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging | Signal, Session | End-to-end encryption by default |
| Documents | CryptPad | Zero-knowledge — even servers can't read your docs |
| Community Chat | Matrix/Element | Encrypted + community-controlled servers |
| File Storage | Nextcloud | Your data, your servers, your rules |
Getting Started
For Individuals:
- Start with one tool swap (Signal for texting is easiest)
- Understand the "why" before the "how"
- Build habits gradually — this is a practice, not a destination
For Communities:
- Identify privacy champions who can learn deeply and support others
- Run old and new systems in parallel during transitions
- Frame tool changes as learning opportunities, not technical burdens
- Make decisions together — cooperative governance strengthens adoption
Related Groves
- Privacy by Design — Tools built to protect you by default
- Digital Sovereignty — Owning your data and infrastructure
- Digital Resilience — Skills for staying safe online
Seeds (Foundational Concepts)
- Privacy is Power Not Secrecy — Why privacy matters
- Privacy Security Encryption Defined — The three layers of protection
- Threat Modeling for Regular People — Asking the right questions
- Surveillance and Data Ethics in Education — The expanding data dragnet
- Unwritten Knowledge Systems — What AI leaves out
- Literacy Technology and Social Justice — Critical lens on digital spaces
- 21st Century Educational Justice — Educators in today's civil rights struggle
- Generative AI and Identity — How AI challenges notions of self
- Embracing Uncertainty as Strength — Navigating change without paralysis
- Building Educator Advocacy Networks — Organizing for educational justice
Plants (Growing Knowledge)
- Privacy Tools Index — Curated list of privacy-forward tools
- Privacy-First Communication Tools — Signal, Matrix, Jitsi setup guides
- Self-Hosting for Digital Sovereignty — Taking control of your infrastructure
- Teaching Digital Self-determination — Pedagogy and approach
- Document Collaboration Tools — CryptPad and alternatives
- Communication Platforms — Matrix vs Signal deep dive
- File Storage Solutions — Nextcloud options
- Anti-Racist Digital Literacy Principles — Framework for equity-centered curriculum
- AI Workshop Framework for Educators — Professional development structure
- Building a Digital Commonplace Book — Personal knowledge management
- Participatory Action Research in Education — Research with, not on, educators
- Zotero Obsidian Research Workflow — Academic knowledge management
Potential Forest
This Grove contributes to: Digital Literacy Framework
This wiki exists to make privacy and security accessible to everyone — not just tech experts. You're invited to join this journey.