He was an emblematic figure of the Internet sphere, defender of “common goods” and digital freedoms. Philippe Aigrain, “Thinker of the commons, researcher, poet and novelist”, died Sunday July 11 at 71 years of a mountain accident, announced Monday the publishing house Publie.net, which he chaired.
Doctor in computer science, Philippe Aigrain participated in the 1970s in the review “Interferences”, which accompanied the free radio movement. Twenty years later, he worked from 1996 to 2003 with the European Commission and developed policies to support free software there.
Squaring the net and migrants
He was also one of the co-founders of La Quadrature du Net, an association created in 2008 which “Defends fundamental rights and freedoms in the digital space and promotes proposals ensuring synergy between freedoms of exchange on the internet and the funding of creation”, he describes on his website.
“Splendors and miseries of the cybermonde”, by Michaël Fœssel
To achieve this balance between property and common goods, he has detailed his thinking in several books, one of which is entitled ” Common cause, information between common good and property ” (Fayard, 2005). The book is (unsurprisingly) available for free on his blog.
Outside the sphere of the Internet, Philippe Aigrain was also a fervent defender of the cause of migrants. He was one of the initiators of the “I welcome the foreigner” campaign, which proposes to make the cause of exiles visible by wearing a badge.
