elementary OS is an operative system fits EU’s Digital Strategy of protection data and avoiding tracking. This system runs on computers in the schools in the French city Fountaine as an alternative to proprietary systems. The element of privacy is very important for the makers and for the children as one of three digital consumers is a child.
More than 200 school computers in the city of Fontaine, in the South-East of France, run on elementary OS. It is a GNU/Linux based operative system. User-friendly with a nice layout and a high level of data security. Elementary OS provides pupils (and any other user) with the possibility of gaining knowledge about digital technologies without giving lasting digital footprints to proprietary tech companies.
Start with the town hall
Nicolas Vivant is the CIO of the city Fontaine. He has been part of the transition to Open Source that the local public sector has been through in the part 10 years. A political decision settled on the Open Source paradigm because of its values of openness and transparency. And also due to the fair prices of the software.
The transition started in the town hall with a shift from proprietary browsers and mail programs to Firefox and Thunderbird. After that came the schools, where they changed the operative systems to elementary OS.
Vivant says in Small is Beautiful Livestream #3 (by Small Technology Foundation) that there are certain legal restrictions in the procurement of IT to the public sector in France. So in Fontaine, they procured PCs, removed Windows, and installed elementary OS.
Like with Vivant, elementary OS was initially a project of passion for the creators.
Project of passion
Since Daniel Fore and Cassidy Blaede started elementary OS as their project, it has grown into a company with full-time employees. The secret behind is the AppCenter.
All applications in the AppCenter are Open Source with a try-before-you-buy option and the user can support by a pay-what-you-like principle.
It is easy to contribute to the AppCenter for external developers. And elementary OS is also found in different languages, including French.
Privacy in large fonts
‘We firmly believe that you are not the product; elementary OS itself is’ it says with large font on their blog. The system and its preinstalled apps, therefore, don’t gather data about their users and their activities. This is how it should be; the page for privacy policy states.
Cassidy Blaede mentioned in January the possibility of promoting elementary OS to schools and the public sector, precisely because its respect for privacy. However, this is only true until the user explicitly chooses third-party applications, which collect the user’s data. Therefore schools are potential users, just like in the case of Fontaine. This is also relevant in the larger European picture.
EU’s Digital Strategy
The current EU Digital Strategy is relevant in terns of protecting school children’s digital footprints in large private tech companies. This strategy stands on three legal pillars: Digital Service Act (DSA), Digital Governance Act (DGA), and Digital Market Act (DMA).
In short, DMA aims to avoid that digital gatekeeper – that is online platforms – put pressure on the free marked and it will ensure that important services are open.
DGA is a European data governance model facilitating data sharing across sectors and countries, if the data owner allows it.
DSA is in compliance with the GDPR and it places restrictions on the ‘digital intermediaries’ in their role as linkage between consumers and goods, services, and content.
Tracking the children
The Digital Strategy, and especially DSA, challenges the larger tech companies such as Google, which tracks its users. Data from tracking might be used for profiling or targeting of adds. If this company has the chance to follow the children growing up from young users to grown-ups, the ongoing profiling is a very strong tool in the companies’ marketing and e-commerce toolbox.
The youngsters will as grown-ups meet a digital marketplace where they are reduced to digital consumers only in adigital world, which is perfectly fitting to their their profile.
EU’s restrictions in relation to ‘digital intermediaries’ through the DSA might be a weapon against small, perfectly adjusted online bobbles that the current school children will meet in the future on these online platforms.
Elementary OS and similar systems can play an important role as an alternative to proprietary operative systems and the data collecting third-party applications. This Open Source alternative allows children to have the privacy their need while they are building digital competences. Both when they get to know digital tools, to navigate around harmful content or targeted adds and suggestions, and while they gain the necessary social competences to move easily on social platforms.
Of all internet users in EU, it is estimated that around one out of three is a child.
Final take-aways
- The city of Fountaine protects their students privacy by using elementary OS on school computers.
- Privacy is especially important when the child is still in the fase of building digital skills.
- EU has started to address digital tracking by the tech-giants.
- Without regulations children grow up to an 'online bubble' with adds targeted precisly to them.