GoKawiilXMPP marks 25 years as a model for decentralized, sovereign messaging infrastructure
The open Jabber/XMPP protocol is celebrating a quarter-century of existence, having been designed from the start as a federated, non-proprietary alternative to closed messaging platforms. The piece uses this anniversary to argue that digital services should be treated as infrastructure owned collectively, rather than left to corporate or single-nation control.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
As Europe pushes for digital sovereignty largely in reaction to American tech dominance, the essay warns against merely swapping US corporations for European ones without addressing ownership structure itself. XMPP's long-running federated model is offered as proof that infrastructure can be built so no single company or country can lock users in, a principle increasingly relevant as governments debate control over messaging, cloud, and identity systems.
- XMPP/Jabber turns 25, exemplifying a federated protocol not owned by any single company
- The essay argues digital services should be treated as infrastructure requiring collective ownership
- Warns against simply replacing US tech dominance with European corporate equivalents
Raspberry Pi 5 Single Board Computer — If owning your infrastructure is the goal, a Raspberry Pi 5 is the classic starting point for running your own XMPP server, mail, or file sync at home. It's small, quiet, and endlessly documented, so self-hosting Prosody or ejabberd becomes a weekend project instead of a data-center commitment.
See Raspberry Pi 5 Single Board Computer on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: gultsch.de, 2026-08-24
Published there as: “Jabber/XMPP: 25 Years of Digital Independence”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.