SPD on digital affairs

The SPD regards fast internet as a basic public service and wants access written into law. Broadband and mobile coverage are to be available everywhere; where the market fails to deliver, the state is to step in.

Everyone should have fast internet. This should be written in the law. Mobile coverage should be good in the countryside too. If companies do not build the network, the state should help. Schools get fiber first.

Mobile operators are to ensure coverage in cities, rural areas, and the border region. The state wants to invest in a working network along transport routes and eliminate dead zones. Fiber connections for schools are to get funding priority. The SPD also supports local hotspots in municipalities.

The SPD wants to offer government services online faster and catch up on implementing the Online Access Act. It plans a Saarland app, a central state digitization platform, and joint digitization of the municipalities.

The SPD wants people to handle government business online. There should be a Saarland app for this. The services should be easy and in plain language. The state should help towns with this.

E-government is to be inclusive, easy to understand, and intuitive, including digital assistance systems. Public employees are to be trained, and the university of applied sciences for public administration is to be reformed to anchor administrative IT. Public bodies are to provide anonymized data for research and business (open data). The municipal association eGo-Saar is to be developed further, and municipalities are to get a digital mail intake system. A green IT strategy for energy-saving, climate-friendly hardware and software is also planned.

The SPD wants to support small and mid-sized companies in going digital while protecting workers' rights. New digital forms of employment are to be covered by social insurance, and further training is to prepare workers for change.

The SPD wants to help small firms go digital. Workers should keep their rights. People who work through online platforms should have social protection too. There should be more training.

The funding program DigitalStarter Saarland and the network office DiNet are to support firms with money and know-how, and the regional AI future center offers training. The SPD treats rules on working hours, occupational safety, social protection, and co-determination as non-negotiable. It calls for an expanded model of social security. Training is to be open to employees, solo self-employed people, and platform workers. Co-working spaces are to be expanded.

The SPD calls for transparent, verifiable, and non-discriminatory algorithms that authorities can inspect. It commits to net neutrality and data sovereignty and wants to expand digital education for all age groups.

Computer programs should be fair and open to checks. Authorities should be able to inspect them. Everyone should decide about their own data. The SPD wants more education on digital topics. Daycare centers should get digital equipment too.

Under the program, recommendation systems and voice assistants must neither restrict nor bypass consumer rights. Digital processes should not run entirely without human action. Education and training are planned in schools, vocational and further training, and for all citizens. The consumer advice center is to be strengthened in this field. A digital pact for daycare centers is planned, modeled on the one for schools.