Open Source as Resistance to Technofeudalism

Open source isn’t just a software model—it’s a political act in an era where tech oligarchs wield feudal-like power over data, algorithms, and digital infrastructure. By decentralizing control, open source challenges the emerging techno-feudal order where corporations like Meta and Google act as “digital lords,” harvesting user data as rent and dictating the terms of engagement in their walled gardens.

Yes, I recently read Technofuedalism by Yanis Varoufakis .

In this system, users and small businesses risk becoming digital serfs: dependent on proprietary platforms for visibility (e.g., Amazon’s marketplace fees) or social connection (e.g., Instagram’s algorithmic feeds)^46. Open source subverts this hierarchy by making code a commons, enabling collective ownership of the tools that shape our digital lives. Mastodon’s decentralized social networks and Linux’s public infrastructure exemplify this—no single entity controls the protocol, reducing reliance on corporate gatekeepers^28.

Power Dynamics in Practice

• Escaping algorithmic serfdom: Open-source platforms like Bluesky allow users to modify or self-host their social media algorithms, resisting the behavior manipulation endemic to platforms like TikTok or Facebook^36.

• Disrupting data rents: When code is transparent, corporations can’t covertly monetize user data—a direct challenge to the $500B+ surveillance capitalism economy^78.

• Democratizing innovation: Unlike feudal tech monopolies that stifle competition (e.g., Apple’s App Store fees), open-source ecosystems let developers build without paying tribute to platform lords^14.

The Limits and Potential
While open source isn’t a panacea—projects often struggle with funding, fragmentation, and corporate co-optation—it offers a blueprint for post-feudal digital governance. As Yanis Varoufakis notes, reclaiming “cloud capital” through open protocols could redistribute power from tech oligarchs to users, fostering a system where “to own our minds individually, we must own infrastructure collectively”^57.

For sustainability-focused builders like myself, open source aligns with green tech’s ethos: transparent, collaborative, and resistant to the extractive logic of technofeudalism. The choice isn’t just about code—it’s about whether we accept digital serfdom or build systems that reflect our values of equity and autonomy^86.

Democracy and decentralisation

Decentralisation like Open Source software is democracy in practice—it shifts power from distant, bureaucratic elites to local communities and citizens. This approach, championed by thinkers like Grace Blakeley, is not about “big government” but about making government smaller and more accountable by empowering towns, workplaces, and neighbourhoods to manage their own affairs. Tools like citizens’ juries and participatory democracy allow people to directly shape the decisions that affect their lives, fostering a sense of ownership and trust in public institutions.

Grace Blakeley’s vision of democratic socialism—rooted in collective ownership and economic democracy—shows how decentralisation can dismantle oligarchic and techno-feudal power structures. By building networks of local, cooperative units, we move away from authoritarian control and towards a system where power flows upward from citizens. This model is less about central planning and more about self-governance, where communities retain authority and the state’s role is to support, not dictate—making democracy real and responsive for everyone.