Hooray! Bits of Freedom exists for a quarter of a century. We were founded in 1999, and have been fighting for internet freedom for 25 years now. Last week, we celebrated our anniversary in a boxing ring and delivered some sharp verbal blows! We also launched a special website about the highlights of our work: 25.bitsoffreedom.nl (only available in Dutch for now, but soon also available in English).

Our 25th anniversary

On October 8, we gathered at Amsterdam's coolest boxing school, Boogieland. We celebrated our anniversary there with a recap of 25 years of internet freedom, as well as a debate about the future of our digital rights. Chairman of the day Marjolein Lanzing (University of Amsterdam) introduced the debate to the 250 attendees. Next, various debate members went into battle with each other in the boxing ring:

• Round 1: No smartphones for under-16s.
  Who better to debate this proposition than young people themselves? Anna Jebose and Emmanuel Lucas (both participants in the Dutch tv-program and debatting show 'Onderweg naar het lagerhuis') debated this and did not shy away from being real tech experts.
• Round 2: Governments cannot protect citizens from Big Tech
  During this round, debaters Maurits Martijn (De Correspondent) and Sander van der Waal (Waag Futurelab) were directly opposite each other.
• Round 3: The AI act does not sufficiently protect people
  For the final round of debates, Alexander Laufer (Amnesty International) and Floris Kreiken (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations) ventured into the ring.

Musical accompaniment was provided by none other than our Chairman Advisory Board Jaap-Henk Hoepman (Radboud University). We want to thank all the debaters, all donors, volunteers, and friends of the internet very much for coming and your support!

Highlights

So for 25 years now, we as Bits of Freedom have been striving for a world where everyone can live a safe and free existence. Specifically, we have always focused on the impact of technology on society. And a lot has changed and happened all these years.

For example, how about the impact of 9/11 on our society, and the avalanche of proposals and new measures that followed? From compulsory identification from the age of 12, to a biometric chip in passports, to new powers for police to request data from telecom providers. At the time, we kept a sharp eye on the damage of such measures on our privacy and gave solicited and unsolicited advice to our government.

Or what about all the Internet filters that our government repeatedly wanted to introduce? For example, through a bill that forced to block any upload of users in case of a possible copyright infringement. This kind of censorship stands in the way of a free and open Internet. Moreover, alternative measures are more effective without sacrificing our freedom. Thanks to our work, the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) has - also repeatedly - removed Internet filters from bills.

Of course, there are many more examples of highlights of our work. We have listed them for you on a special website about 25 years of Bits of Freedom (only available in Dutch)!