Technological Sovereignty: Protecting Citizens’ Digital Rights in the AI-Driven and Post-GDPR Algorithmic and City-Regional European Realm

Abstract

In this frontline article, blending techno-political and city-regional assemblages, Igor Calzada discusses how the algorithmic, AI (Artificial Intelligence)-driven, and post-GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) European realm affects citizenship. Drawing on evidence from previous publications, and particularly stemming from his case study of Barcelona, he builds upon a rationale through which citizens, at least in European cities and regions — unlike in the U.S. and China — are increasingly being considered decision-makers rather than mere passive data providers. He elucidates that Europe is now likely to speak with its own voice by taking the lead of the technological humanism approach, and for the first time globally by opening up an avant-garde, strategic AI overarching vision, wherein cities could federate themselves within a networked regional ecosystem and claim technological sovereignty in order to protect digital rights of their fellow citizens.

Keywords: GDPR, smart cities, Artificial Intelligence, technological sovereignty, digital rights, algorithmic, Europe, EU, Barcelona, technopolitics, city-regions, citizenship, China, USA, data, big data, technological humanism, AI

JEL Classification: R38, R28, R58, Z38, Z18, Z28, H41, H57, H75