Freedom. Democracy. Internet. Cyprus EU Presidency edition, 2026

An unconference for conscientious and democratically-grounded tech policy, in Cyprus and beyond.

15 June 2026 | Location: CYENS, Nicosia.
An open space gathered from 10:30 until 18:00, in the format of participant-led sessions and a potluck table at midday.

The Freedom. Democracy. Internet Unconference is part of the Cyprus Open Digital Futures Week and the latest in a series of local unconferences (open space gatherings with an emergent agenda) aiming towards conscientious and democratically-grounded tech policy, in Cyprus and beyond.

An invitation

This is an invitation to come together in a moment of European digital policy visibility. The current policy landscape increasingly focuses on cybersecurity, AI development, and national or EU-first digital sovereingty metrics. In doing so, it risks overlooking the deeper questions that shape our collective technological futures.

How do we make decisions regarding our technological future in a way that is inclusive, transparent, and human-centered rather than institutional? What kind of digital futures are we building? And how do we address the systemic pressures, lobbying, institutional inertia, and internal fragmentation, that continue to challenge the FLOSS and digital commons ecosystems from within?

On June 15th 2026, as Cyprus and Nicosia become the setting of European Digital Policy, we pull threads together and invite individuals and communities that believe in open and freedom-respecting technologies to gather and coordinate in a spirit of informal productivity, to give pulse to a week of activities hosted by the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU, and make sure that the most important and urgent digital commons and digital rights-debates are brought into the conversation.

What we centre

We seek to centre digital rights, digital sovereignty understood as public capacity rather than control, and the digital commons as a shared infrastructure of care and governance. In doing so, we challenge extractive and opaque models of technological development, and instead nurture free, fair, and participatory systems for governance, security, education, and life.

Digital rights

Protection of fundamental freedoms in digital space, from the Right to Repair to the Right to live Smartphone free.

Digital sovereignty

Understood as public capacity rather than control. Capability, not gatekeeping.

The digital commons

A shared infrastructure of care and governance. Free, fair, and participatory.

Public Money? Public Code.

FLOSS in public institutions, schools, and cultural spaces, mapping obstacles and opportunities.

Unconference programme

Monday, 15 June 2026 at CYENS, Nicosia.

10:30Gathering
11:00Kick-off
11:00 – 11:30Session planning
11:30 – 13:30Parallel sessions
13:30 – 15:00Potluck lunch
15:00 – 16:30Parallel sessions
16:30Outcomes
18:00End of day, social to follow

Sessions are proposed and shaped by the people in the room — spontaneity, relevance, co-ownership of the agenda.

Session seeds

Connecting FLOSS advocates across Cyprus academia — toward a next-level (Un)conference on Tech Policy in Education.
Co-write an Open Letter on democratic processes in tech procurement.
Co-write an Open Letter constructively discussing debates around the Age Verification Pilot.
Reflecting on the Digital Sovereignty Report.
Putting Open Source & Digital Rights on the local Civil Society radar.
Address Digital Coersion - Right to stay Offline / live Smartphone free.
Digital ID & Digital Euro (with epicenter.works).
Procurement — Where we left off with the Auditor General’s office

Preparation reading: Programme of the Cyprus Presidency of the EU.

Live Agenda

Shape the conversation before we meet. Add your proposals and coordinate sessions on our shared agenda:

Open Live Agenda

What to expect

A fluid, minimally guided, participant-led networking, brainstorming, and co-working atmosphere following Open Space Technology.
Space for panels, co-writing labs, workshops, and policy roundtables.
Emphasis on dialogue, transparency, and co-creation.

What Open Space can look like

The Basics The potential

Who we call together

FLOSS developers, educators, researchers, creatives, and community organisers; those interested in co-creating ethical digital policy and resilient community tech; those invested in mapping obstacles and opportunities for free/libre software in public institutions, schools, and cultural spaces; those interested in the Right to Repair and the "Public Money? Public Code" movement; practitioners and policy-makers looking to move toward grounded, implementable strategies for digital justice; and those interested in connecting the above priorities with sound business practices. We invite all who care about the protection of digital commons and see the need and significance to support this initiative on this day through in-person participation.

Locally

Ubuntu.cy ELLAK Cyprus hack66 Hackerspace Limassol Cyprus Pirate movement 101.cy NeMe.org UCY, CUT & local universities Local NGOs Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation & Tech Policy

Internationally

Freedom not FearBE EDRiBE homo digitalisGR digitalcourageDE

Previous unconferences

Care for the commons

As part of our commitment towards a community-conscious and low-waste event, we kindly ask participants to bring a reusable cup or bottle. Let’s care for the commons: online and offline.