Jabber/XMPP: 25 Years of Digital Independence

Jabber/XMPP has marked its 25th anniversary, celebrating a quarter-century of digital independence. The principle "we should own our infrastructure" resonates with many, but the meaning of "we" varies depending on the type of infrastructure. Municipalities typically manage utilities like water supply, while homeowners often aspire to individual ownership.

However, digital services have not historically been held to the same standard. For decades, Europe has not treated digital services as critical infrastructure. This oversight may stem from an implicit assumption of collaboration with American corporations, a notion that has recently been challenged by the Trump administration. To truly achieve digital sovereignty, Europe must reject the idea of simply swapping American companies for European ones, and instead pursue collective ownership.

In a capitalist system, profit-driven companies play a role in building and maintaining infrastructure. Yet, they must be made easily replaceable. It is acceptable to hire a company to build a road, but we should be able to hire a different company to maintain and repair it in the future. Similarly, when it comes to communication tools, we should not rely on a single vendor.

Open standards, like the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), are crucial. XMPP, which has been around for over 25 years, enables interoperability and vendor independence. By adopting open standards and mandating them, we can ensure that communication tools are built on a foundation of collective ownership and can withstand the influence of individual vendors.