The internet is broken, concludes Sander van der Waal, Director of Research at Waag Futurelab and visiting fellow at VU Amsterdam’s Connected World. With his team, he is working on alternatives to the kind of technology we know today. Technology that puts citizens, not profit, at the centre. At VU Amsterdam, he hopes to work with experts to explore how universities can become less dependent on large tech companies.
For thirty years, Waag Futurelab has focused on two central questions: how does technology work, and how can it be improved? Together with students, citizens, civil-society organisations, companies and the municipality, the team looks for ways to make technology fairer and more human-centred. They collaborate with Cybersoek to improve digital self-reliance in Amsterdam, and they develop smart meters that help residents of IJburg measure their energy consumption. They also ‘dissect’ smartphones, social-media platforms and AI. “We look together with people at what technology really is,” says Sander van der Waal. “We like to take it apart — sometimes literally, with a screwdriver.” In their lab, they experiment, build prototypes and explore how technology could be made better.
The internet is broken
And these alternatives are urgently needed, according to the technology expert. “As technology users, we are constantly tracked, monitored and analysed. Our data trails are then exploited for financial gain, and even for political influence. Just look at Elon Musk and the political agenda he pushes through X. What we get to see is heavily shaped by him.” Meta’s recent decision to stop fact-checking is also very telling, he says. “I see it as a gesture towards Trump. And you can see the public debate deteriorating because of it. When you consider that many young people use social media as their main source of news, our conclusion is clear: the internet is broken.”
Still, Van der Waal sees some positive developments. “Since Trump returned to the White House, awareness of the risks of technology has grown. People increasingly want alternatives. That’s a step forward. We can help create those alternatives, together with citizens, universities and organisations.”
Public Stack
But to make different choices, Van der Waal says, we must first understand how technology works. And it is often far more complex than what we see on the surface. Although sleek interfaces and attractive designs might suggest otherwise, the devices we use rely on complex processes built on years of research and innovation. These processes, Van der Waal and his team argue, are not designed with citizens’ interests in mind, but primarily serve corporate goals.
By dissecting each layer - the “stack” - of technology, we can better understand how it works and imagine alternatives. The Waag research team developed a model called the Public Stack, which outlines such an alternative. It describes, layer by layer, the principles of ethical technology, from basic values to design and implementation, all in service of the public good.
This starts with the purpose of the technology, Van der Waal says: “Is the aim of technological development profit? Then the product will look very different from one designed to improve people’s lives. Look at Google or Facebook. They deliberately rank advertisers’ pages higher in your feed than regular pages that might actually match what the user is looking for.” According to the Public Stack model, it is essential to talk with citizens, even to involve them directly in the design process, so makers can ensure their products are truly relevant.
Van der Waal also sees plenty of work when it comes to our natural environment. “We need to look much more closely at the relationship between technology and our ecosystems.” He uses AI as an example: “We are making ourselves dependent on AI without realising how much it pollutes our environment. An AI-generated search request uses ten times as much energy as a standard Google search. We want people to understand that impact.”
How things can be different
Alternative technology may seem far off, but Van der Waal and his colleagues are already working on projects that show how things can be done differently. Fairphone, for instance, a sustainable and ethical alternative to the smartphone, began twelve years ago as a Waag project. And social-media platforms such as Mastodon and BlueSky are, according to the tech expert, places where users have far more control. Even for AI, new alternatives are emerging. “SURF and TNO are developing GPT-NL: a Dutch language model created using texts obtained through agreements with media companies, authors and other producers. We are now exploring how to involve citizens in this development, so that societal interests are included from the start.”
Van der Waal, once a Computer Science student at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam himself, believes the knowledge and multidisciplinary research within VU Amsterdam and other universities can greatly help advance the Public Stack. As a visiting fellow at Connected World, he is eager to talk with VU experts in this field. “I see a growing momentum within universities to become less dependent on American big-tech companies. People are welcome to contact me so we can explore this further together.”
Do you want to get in contact with Sander van der Waal? Reach out to him via e-mail.
