Bilingual

Nee je kan niet meer je overheid en maatschappij verhuizen naar Amerikaanse servers - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- Moving Dutch government and society to American cloud services is reckless, especially given Trump's actions and the dismantling of legal frameworks.
- The legal justifications (e.g., DPIA, DTIA) are invalidated by Trump's executive orders nullifying the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
- The primary motivation is convenience (e.g., familiarity with Microsoft software), but it creates dangerous dependency on US goodwill.
- Risks include data surveillance, loss of continuity, and potential hostage situations if US companies cut access.
- The author calls for immediate cessation of data transfers to US clouds and adoption of European alternatives, despite the adjustment period.
Is dit een soevereine cloud? - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- American cloud providers cannot offer sovereign solutions due to US surveillance laws and sanctions, regardless of server location.
- European alternatives often overstate their capabilities, lacking equivalent services to major providers like AWS or Azure.
- True sovereignty requires confidentiality, availability, and control over data and services.
- US companies' promises like air-gapped clouds or source code escrow are ineffective due to dependency on US updates or complexity.
- Organizations can reduce reliance on Big Tech by hosting their own servers or using simpler European hosting.
Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- Governments and organizations have been convinced that only US-style clouds are viable, leading to a shift of critical data and services to US-controlled servers.
- Most European government software still runs on locally owned systems, proving that self-hosted or European-hosted solutions are feasible.
- Reliance on proprietary US cloud services (e.g., Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services) creates vendor lock-in, high costs, and exposes data to US surveillance laws.
- European providers offer basic computing services like servers, storage, and bandwidth, but lack comprehensive prefabricated cloud components.
- The solution involves relearning how to deploy services on European infrastructure, supporting initiatives like EuroStack, and enacting policies to prioritize local technologies.
- Many newer systems could be run on European servers at lower cost and with greater sovereignty, as shown by examples like the Dutch parliamentary monitoring system OpenTK.nl.
Cloud Overview - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- Europe's digital dependency on US cloud providers is a sovereignty risk, as US law allows access to data and potential sanctions could disrupt critical services.
- European governments are ill-equipped to lead cloud independence, but financial regulators might force banks to diversify, creating a path for others.
- The cloud consists of varied services; Europe excels at low-level infrastructure (servers, storage) but lacks competitive high-level SaaS alternatives to US hyperscalers.
- GAIA-X and other initiatives have not solved the problem; more specific industrial policy and incentives are needed to build a European cloud ecosystem.
- Open source alone is insufficient; it requires robust IT operations and better productization to compete with US big tech.
- US cloud dominance threatens European privacy and security, especially under the Trump administration, which may exploit dependency for leverage.
- A coherent strategy includes building 'European Cloud Modules' and backup communication systems for critical services like government and healthcare.
The European Cloud Situation at the end of 2025 - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- In 2025, significant progress was made in convincing stakeholders that Europe must reduce dependency on US cloud providers, but practical action remains lacking.
- Governments and enterprises are bound to US clouds, with little incentive to change; IT procurement is disconnected from political policies.
- European cloud providers are not offering competitive alternatives to AWS/Azure/Google; they focus on lower-end services.
- The EuroStack initiative has been effective in raising awareness, but buyers and sellers are not moving.
- The financial industry, regulated under DORA, may be forced to diversify cloud dependencies, potentially leading the way for governments.
- No regret steps include regaining technical skills, reforming procurement, funding foundational software, and establishing digital commons services.
- A broad coalition and long-term effort are needed to achieve meaningful change.
Goede geluiden over digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- Recent publications from the Dutch government show a clear shift towards emphasizing digital autonomy after a decade of denial.
- Five regulatory bodies jointly argue that dependence on a few IT providers poses risks to digital service continuity and offer concrete recommendations.
- The revised national cloud policy now covers all entities, including independent administrative bodies, and advises against reliance on non-EU suppliers for critical services.
- The tax authority has reversed plans to outsource email and VAT software to the US, aiming to retain in-house development and use European suppliers.
- An advisory body found that Microsoft 365 cannot be used for sensitive data due to encryption issues, aggregation risks, and vendor lock-in.
- The EU's Tech Sovereignty Package promotes open source and mandates digital autonomy for essential government services like DigiD.
- The Dutch government's strategy for a sovereign cloud ensures technology and operations are under full EU control.
- Despite progress, coordinating digital autonomy remains challenging due to legal autonomy of ministries, but initial steps are promising.
Show HN: A live badge that proves your SaaS runs on EU infrastructure
24 days ago
- EuroSeal scans SaaS infrastructure daily to verify freedom from US-jurisdiction dependencies and provides a badge for passing the scan.
- Free for the first 50 companies with a 12-month free badge, no card required, and a 2-minute setup.
- European sovereign-cloud spending is growing 83% yearly; proof of EU jurisdiction is increasingly required by procurement teams.
- Public callouts occur for services claiming to be EU-hosted but using US hyperscalers; verifiable sovereignty is essential under regulations like the Data Act and AI Act.
- EuroSeal uses a non-intrusive, external mapping method without agents or code changes to check hosting, CDN, DNS, email, analytics, and sub-processors daily.
- The badge links to a public, timestamped report that updates automatically or downgrades if dependencies change, and is exportable for compliance reviews.
- Founding offer includes free scan for the first 50 companies, then €12/month per domain after 12 months, with 50% off for life.

Hasty Briefsbeta

cloud sovereignty

Nee je kan niet meer je overheid en maatschappij verhuizen naar Amerikaanse servers - Bert Hubert's writings

Is dit een soevereine cloud? - Bert Hubert's writings

Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis - Bert Hubert's writings

Cloud Overview - Bert Hubert's writings

The European Cloud Situation at the end of 2025 - Bert Hubert's writings

Goede geluiden over digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings

Show HN: A live badge that proves your SaaS runs on EU infrastructure