Technology is such a big part of everyday life that even politicians can no longer ignore it to make choices. But do all political parties do the same? And what does this mean for us as citizens? We examine the draft election programs of a number of parties to see how they want to organize our technological society.
For this overview, we only look at the parties that are currently in the House of Representatives. At the time of writing, more than fifty political parties have been registered with the Electoral Council, and it would go too far to analyze them all. Not only do many of those fifty parties have no realistic chance of obtaining a seat, a number of the registered parties are dormant, without any real ambition to win a seat. Incidentally, with this overview we do not make a statement as to whether or not a party has a chance to enter the House of Representatives, but mainly try to present the information in a relevant and clear manner.
The PVV does not appear in the overview, because the party has not taken a position on tech.
Big Tech
The influence of ‘Big Tech’ (Facebook, Google) is cause for concern for a number of parties. A number of them (GroenLinks, D66, PvdA, VVD) want a ‘digital tax’ whereby companies have to pay for the use of personal data. Some parties are also encouraged to reduce the power of tech giants (in a European context) by breaking them up. For example, the VVD and SP say that this should be an option, but do not go into the details. The Labor Party even goes so far as to state that “devices, software and app stores do not belong in the hands of one company”. Such a position would have far-reaching consequences for almost all major tech companies. Apple shouldn’t run its own app store, Nintendo should close its own online game store, Google shouldn’t have a Play Store, and Microsoft’s shouldn’t have an Xbox Live store. They should all be torn apart if this idea is carried out literally.
Parties and privacy
The fact that politicians sometimes make controversial decisions when it comes to technology is evident from the adoption of the so-called ‘drag law’, or the Intelligence and Security Services Act, which gives these services powers to intercept data from citizens. After much criticism and an advisory referendum, a number of restrictions were built into this, such as an independent review of wiretapping applications and a possibility to complain. But privacy watchdogs are still concerned about the far-reaching possibilities to eavesdrop on people. The law was passed in 2018. The SP, GroenLinks, D66, Party for the Animals, Kuzu / Öztürk Group and Klein voted against.
Privacy
The views on privacy are an extension of the influence of the large technology companies. According to the SP, a ‘Commission Digitization’ should be set up to advise politicians on the social consequences of technology. The party also advocates additional civil rights, although the program is not specific about which ones they are.
D66 has the most comprehensive views on technology and privacy. D66, for example, argues that copyright protection should not lead to “massive surveillance of users of social media platforms”. D66 is also the only party that mentions internet bullying and wants to take action against it. The threshold for reporting a crime must be lowered, the police must pay more attention to it and, according to the party, there must be a super fast-track procedure to quickly remove harmful online content. Finally, the party states that webcams must be physically covered to prevent invasion of privacy by hackers.
According to the ChristenUnie, the government must also be strictly monitored when it comes to privacy, and the Dutch Data Protection Authority must be given the authority and resources to monitor this.
Algorithm
D66 and PvdA are also explicit in their objections to the secret algorithms that tech companies use to provide users with information and content. The so-called ‘fables trap’ to which Arjen Lubach paid attention last year could in fact pose a danger to democracy. The PvdA states that tech giants “are obliged in a European context to be transparent about this”.
On the other hand, the SGP is in favor of filters of certain content they consider undesirable, but also does not want ‘Brussels’ to determine for us what ‘fake news’ is. The SGP also believes that combating terrorism is a good reason to occasionally breach privacy.
Environmental impact
For the Party of the Animals, the impact of the large data centers on the environment in particular is a thorn in the side. According to the party, the arrival of ‘energy-guzzling data centers’ in the Netherlands should be discouraged. At the other end of that spectrum appears to be Forum for Democracy, which wants the Netherlands to maintain a leading position in the field of digital technology. The party wants to invest in the digital infrastructure, of which data centers also form a part.
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