Data Sovereignty… You Gotta Own It!

Way back in 2015 when I started with CiviCRM, its brand tagline was “Growing and Sustaining Relationships”. You can still occasionally see it around today.

A year or two afterwards, we started playing around with different taglines, one of which was “Own your data. Own your impact.” I especially liked this one as it spoke to the heart of a major feature of CiviCRM: Data Sovereignty.

But, as prescient as it was at the time, it didn’t stick.

Fast forward to 2025 and the term ‘data sovereignty’ is getting a lot more attention in the tech world – for a few reasons.

One is the growing concern that the Big Tech corporations are unavoidably entangled with government power structures; and depending on who’s holding that government power at any given time, varying groups start to feel very worried about that entanglement.

And a second is, I think it’s pretty safe to say, a collection of serious concerns about the unbridled growth of artificial intelligence.

We could view those as separate concerns, but I think they have something very important in common; the risk of betrayed trust.

Let me explain.

For years, the Big Tech companies have sold us a dream in which their technology makes our lives better, as long as we trust them enough to let their products become central to our everyday lives. They’ll manage all the details (and our personal information); we’ll reap the benefits of convenience and ease; and we’ll all just assume that our data will never be misused to our detriment.

That’s the trust I’m talking about. That’s the trust that’s at risk of being betrayed.

In the United States, where most of these companies are headquartered, they’ve shown a willingness to bend their policies and procedures to fit the demands of whoever happens to be in control of the government at any given time. The power of the federal government, and of the Executive Branch in particular, to exert pressure on these companies is simply astounding – under any administration.

In the years when you or I personally support the sitting U.S. President, it may seem easy to wave away claims of abuse of executive power, to believe that government intrusion into Big Tech’s ongoing activities is acceptable, or even necessary.

But in the years where we believe the President is an incompetent abuser of power at his core, such control becomes very troubling. And unfortunately, you and I don’t always get our way when it comes to choosing the next President. But take away the “abuse of government power” concern for a moment. Let’s just pretend that no government would want to interfere in the workings of the Big Tech corporations. Would we then suddenly trust them to act only in ways that benefit us? Surely would could expect them to continue trying one thing or another that harms us:

• promotion of technologies for wartime use;
• influencing public discourse by skewing factual and historical information to fit their own interests;
• fostering addictive behaviors among users regardless of age;
• practicing abusive and unfair compensation among executives and employees;
• name your own complaint here – it need not be one of mine.

So it’s not a question of whether you or I happen to agree with the powers-that-be of the moment. Sooner or later, we can all expect the Big Tech corporations to begin doing things we don’t want with data that we have given them.

As sad as it is to see such innovative companies bow before the unavoidable pressures of avarice, I myself kinda feel like saying… errrr… thank you!

For decades, the open-source software community has fought to justify its existence in the face
of proprietary software and its huge clout. But now, Big Tech is helping make the case for us.

Because if you want full transparency and full control over your tech stack, Big Tech is making it clear: you don’t want them in charge of it.

Instead: you gotta own it.

And that’s exactly what you get with open-source solutions: full control of the data, features, and infrastructure that power your systems.

If, on the other hand, you’re okay with Big Tech inhaling your data and productizing it in any way they think will benefit their shareholders, you can let them. They’ll happily do it, and in exchange they’ll give you access to some convenient features, for just as long as it’s also convenient for them.

I only ask that you recognize first what you’re trading away, and what you’re getting in return. You’re giving up control of your systems and your data – not only your ability to use it as you wish, but your ability to prevent others from abusing it in any way they wish. You simply have no idea how it’s being used, whom it’s being shared with, or how it could be leveraged against you when the regime (political or corporate) to which Big Tech is beholden turns against you. That’s what you’re trading away. And in return, you get … well, convenience.

That’s not a trade I could recommend to anyone. That’s why I’m all-in on open-source CiviCRM and other solutions that support true data sovereignty. That’s why I hope you will be, too.