Linke on digital affairs

The Left sees the internet as a basic right and wants freely accessible Wi-Fi in public spaces. The rollout of 5G and fiber is to speed up without neglecting disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The Left wants free Wi-Fi in public places. That way everyone can go online, even with little money. Fast internet should be available everywhere, including poorer neighborhoods. Local trains should have Wi-Fi.

The party wants to examine whether landlords can be required to modernize building connections. Wi-Fi on local trains is to become part of transport tenders, and mobile coverage is to be available along the entire line to Bremerhaven. For privately operated infrastructure, the Left wants to avoid monopolies and uses public contracting to that end. In the long run, Bremen is to become a public-interest "smart city" that is planned democratically and not left to big tech companies.

The Left wants to create a fund that helps people with low incomes buy digital devices. Education on digital skills and data protection is to be supported in order to narrow the digital divide.

Some people cannot afford a computer or a phone. The Left wants to help them with money from a fund. There should be courses on using digital technology. All classrooms should get Wi-Fi.

The fund is to be publicized through neighborhood centers, schools, universities and similar institutions. Educational offerings are to teach basic skills as well as knowledge of data processing and data protection. Learning sites such as the FabLab and the Digital Impact Lab, which offer free access to digital tools, are to receive funding. Since all students have been given tablets, the party calls for Wi-Fi in every classroom.

The Left wants dealings with government offices to be possible online and fax machines abolished in the administration. Software built with public money should be freely available as open source, and the administration should become less dependent on Microsoft products.

The Left wants people to be able to reach government offices online. Offices should send each other emails instead of faxes. Software paid for by the state should be free for all to use. The administration should depend less on big software companies.

Through e-government services, residents should be able to view the data that authorities hold on them. For publicly commissioned software, the principle "Public Money, Public Code" applies. Following Schleswig-Holstein's example, the party wants to examine how far the administration can do without proprietary software, in order to steer public money into common goods and strengthen digital sovereignty. In innovation funding, open-source projects, cooperative business models and social innovations are to get more support alongside start-ups.

The Left rejects upload filters, data retention and the EU's planned chat control. It wants to anchor net neutrality in law through a Bundesrat initiative and strengthen the state data protection authority.

The Left is against storing everyone's connection data. It is also against scanning private chats. On the internet, all data should travel at the same speed. This should be written into law. Bremen's data protection office should become stronger.

Net neutrality means that providers treat all data on the network equally. The party also wants a new copyright law that, in its view, values rather than punishes digital creativity and diversity; the public sector should rely more on open source and open access for this. The office of the state commissioner for data protection and freedom of information is to be strengthened because data protection and data security are growing in importance.