Reviewing the 2026 Tübingen Digital Freedom Days
We previously wrote about the Tübingen Digital Freedom Days in Germany, a conference held from 15 to 17 May 2026, the fifth such conference. Several Pirates participated in this conference and have asked us to provide an update about the speeches that were made there. The conference included more than 50 talks and workshops.
About the 2026 Tübingen Digital Freedom Days
Digital empowerment in uncertain times
Borys Sobieski, a former chair of Piratenpartei Deutschland, presented Inclusion in Digital Projects. His practical talk explained how accessibility is often overlooked in open-source projects and showed how relatively simple changes can make digital projects easier for more people to use.
Eva Wolfangel, an independent science and technology journalist, author, speaker, and moderator whose work appears in publications including Die ZEIT, Deutschlandfunk, and Technology Review, presented Privacy by Lying. She examined data collection, digital self-defence, and her practice of providing alternative information when booking platforms, hotels, courses, and other organisations request more personal data than they need.
Peter Gietz, founder and CEO of DAASI International, presented Digital Freedom in Europe and What Trump Has to Do with It. He discussed Europe’s dependence on large American technology companies, the public money spent on closed-source software, and the open-source alternatives that could help Europe build greater digital sovereignty.
Finally, Schoresch Davoodi and Babak Tubis, both alternate board members of Pirate Parties International, presented the lecture Digitality and Empowerment 2.0: Encoding Empowerment. Their lecture argues that citizens should not hand all responsibility to governments, platforms, algorithms, or other organisations. Instead, people need the knowledge and confidence to assess information, question systems, and take responsibility for their own decisions. Internet shutdowns in Iran appear as one example of how control over communication can become a method of political control.
Watch: Inclusion in Digital Projects
Watch: Digital Freedom in Europe
Read the lecture manuscript on the PPI Wiki
Freedom requires participation
Taken together, these talks show why digital freedom must be discussed from several directions. Authoritarian governments often try to control information directly. Democracies may end up doing the same thing by slowly reducing openness in the name of safety, convenience, or moral certainty. The Tübingen Digital Freedom Days created space for that discussion. We hope that Pirates are able to continue participating in this conference next year, and we will continue to update about it.
