digital autonomy

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The cloud is not a chemical plant - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- European chemical factories are outclassed by cheaper Chinese alternatives, making local production unsustainable.
- Unlike the chemical industry, many basic cloud services from US providers are not cheaper; European providers like Leaseweb and Hetzner often offer lower costs.
- Advanced cloud services from US giants, like distributed databases, are not yet available in Europe, but most cloud services consumed are not that advanced.
- The scale of US cloud providers is massive, similar to competing with IKEA, but European cloud industry still has opportunities to remain relevant.
- Europe can catch up by adopting a cooperative approach rather than cloning US methods, but requires political will and effort.
Digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Digital autonomy in the Netherlands is eroding due to heavy reliance on American Big Tech, exemplified by government email migration to Microsoft and inability to adjust tax systems.
- Autonomy has three key aspects: agility (control over systems to make policy changes), confidentiality (secure communication without foreign surveillance), and resilience (ability to repair and maintain infrastructure locally).
- Citizens and politicians show little concern for privacy and autonomy, preferring convenience over control, which allows Big Tech to dominate.
- Current trends predict 98% of government email will be hosted by US corporations by 2026, with no alternative plan B in place.
- A proposed solution is a government-owned communication cloud (Rijkscommunicatie Cloud), built and run by Dutch civil servants, offering secure email, chat, and file sharing for public institutions.
- Investing in local expertise, open-source alternatives, and cultural support for smaller platforms is crucial to regain digital autonomy.
Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months 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.
Europe's executives need to skill up to solve our total US cloud dependency - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Europe's nearly total dependence on US big tech (Amazon, Microsoft, Google) is a crisis of digital autonomy.
- Upper management in governments and companies lack technical expertise and rely on consultants who exclusively promote US cloud providers.
- Contrary to claims, it is possible to store data fully in Europe using local servers and generic IT capabilities.
- Examples include the Dutch tax agency moving to Microsoft cloud despite vulnerabilities and the CCB director's mistaken belief that full European data storage is impossible.
- Leadership must skill up and reengage with European generic IT to break free from US tech hegemony.
Praatjes - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Lists public or widely announced talks (praatjes) on topics including digital autonomy, sovereignty, and cloud dependency.
- Covers talks scheduled for years 2024, 2025, and 2026, with various Dutch organizations such as AFM, CBS, Kiesraad, and more.
- Not exhaustive; earlier years available on an old page, and some talks are not publicly announced.
- Organized chronologically by date, with occasional topic descriptions in parentheses.
Lijstduwer, Felipe Rodriquez Award, BNR, NRC, btw en meer - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The author is a 'lijstduwer' (list pusher) for the local GroenLinks-PvdA coalition in Pijnacker-Nootdorp for the municipal elections, appearing at position 27 on list 4.
- They received the Felipe Rodriquez Award from Bits of Freedom, a positive award for privacy and internet freedom advocates, and took it to a key EU privacy meeting in Brussels.
- The author appeared on BNR's 'The Big Five' to discuss Europe's digital autonomy and dependence on US clouds, and on NRC Vandaag podcast with Felienne Hermans about Europe's position in the world.
- The Dutch tax authority plans to outsource VAT administration to US company Fast Enterprises, with servers in Apeldoorn but controlled by Americans; Parliament will vote on pausing the plan.
- Other highlights include an interview in Computable about IT experts vs. administrators, a masterclass on digital autonomy covered by Nemo Kennislink, and a Reuters article quoting the author on US diplomatic efforts to undermine European privacy rules.
BertVote Gemeenteraadsverkiezingen 2026 - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Bert Hubert is running as a candidate for Progressief Pijnacker-Nootdorp (list position 27) in the 2026 municipal elections, but cannot lead a NerdVote campaign this time due to his candidacy.
- He recommends several personal contacts: Elisabeth IJmker (GroenLinks, Amsterdam, position 6), Tijmen de Vries (PvdA, Katwijk, position 2), and Joep Bos-Coenraad (GroenLinks, Nijmegen, position 6), all of whom focus on digital autonomy.
- Elisabeth IJmker has championed digital independence in Amsterdam, including a motion to assess reliance on US big tech.
- Tijmen de Vries is active nationally in digital policy and is expected to contribute significantly to Katwijk.
- Joep Bos-Coenraad previously served as a councilor and advocates for digital autonomy in Nijmegen.
- Bert Hubert encourages voters to consider these candidates, but emphasizes that this is a personal (BertVote) recommendation, not a neutral NerdVote one.
- He also reminds readers to vote, regardless of their choice, and mentions the GroenLinks Digital Society Network list.
Rapport digitale autonomie binnen de energie-intensieve industrie voor Energy Innovation NL - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The report examines digital autonomy in the energy-intensive industry, based on interviews with directly involved employees.
- Critical machinery is still largely controlled by local computers, with minimal reliance on non-European clouds.
- The immediate environment of operational technology is increasingly cloud-dependent, affecting dashboards and document access.
- Logistics and staff scheduling rely on multiple foreign clouds, risking production if disrupted.
- Suppliers provide fewer autonomous solutions, often requiring cloud connections for sensors and devices.
- The industry lacks collective action to reduce cloud dependency and lacks long-term plans for cloud failures.
- Cloud-based communication and critical documents create vulnerability during crises when clouds may fail.
- AI adoption pressures further reliance on non-European clouds for economic viability.
Big tech clouds worden niet veiliger met stapels papier - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Reliance on US cloud services exposes organizations to unilateral access cutoffs by the US government and legal instruments that allow access to data stored in Europe.
- Special agreements, extra encryption layers, or intermediary companies do not realistically mitigate the underlying risks of US laws and sanctions.
- Many organizations use paperwork like Data Privacy Impact Assessments, Data Transfer Impact Assessments, and risk acceptance registers to justify continued use of US clouds instead of pursuing real alternatives.
- A large consulting industry profits from creating complex governance documents that obscure rather than solve the fundamental security and privacy issues.
- The only honest justification for using US clouds is trusting the US government to act reasonably, but this trust is not shared by many Europeans.
- True digital autonomy requires investing in European technology and rebuilding internal IT expertise within governments and organizations.
EU & Civil Society need to progress on Digital Autonomy - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Digital autonomy discussions are stagnating; civil society must focus on practical implementation beyond legislation and values.
- Achieving digital sovereignty requires action from government technical staff, procurement departments, and ministries, but these groups are often absent from civil society discussions.
- Civil society can facilitate policy by discussing novel ideas safely, smoothing the path for legislative changes and providing talking points for politicians.
- Moving to digital autonomy involves physical changes like new contracts, vendors, and IT systems, which governments typically resist due to inertia and big-tech alignment.
- Key areas civil society should address include procurement incentives, legal clarity on restricting tenders to European suppliers, and exposing illegal procurement practices.
- Lack of understanding of the hierarchy of digital problems (e.g., cloud dependence, Microsoft dominance) and the need for regime change in government IT must be highlighted.
- Issues like poor user experience, lack of European vendor skills in government tenders, open source user satisfaction, and media biases should be tackled.
- AI implications for sovereignty, mapping EU digital policies to existing initiatives, and leveraging the EU Digital Commons EDIC are also critical topics.
Do not invite big-tech to join your digital autonomy discussion - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- US big tech companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon) should not be invited to discussions on European digital autonomy because their interests conflict with reducing dependencies.
- Their representatives often repeat misleading talking points, such as claims that they can protect European data from US laws, despite counterexamples like Microsoft complying with US sanctions against the ICC.
- Including them wastes meeting time on debunking their narratives and creates a false impression of legitimacy through 'both-sidesing' the issue.
- Big tech's goal is to preserve their market share, so they cannot genuinely help Europe achieve sovereignty; their participation only raises doubts or offers pseudo-solutions.
- Analogous to excluding tobacco and alcohol companies from health discussions, big tech should be excluded from autonomy-focused events due to inherent conflicts of interest.
- Beware of European industry groups or think tanks that have been co-opted by big tech funding.
Digitale Autonomie 2.0: en nu echt - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Digital autonomy and resilience are interconnected; the Netherlands is critically dependent on US cloud providers (e.g., Microsoft, Amazon), with all government, banking, and education sectors relying on them, creating vulnerabilities.
- US companies can access data or shut down services at any time, and special agreements do not prevent this; European alternatives exist (e.g., Aisle, Galileo, SURF Nextcloud) but are underused due to lack of awareness and training.
- The IT education system exclusively trains users for US cloud platforms, while management and IT staff resist change because it disrupts established routines and profit models.
- Political will for digital autonomy exists (150 votes in parliament), but funding is lacking, and middle management is the biggest obstacle, having ignored IT for decades.
- Solutions include starting small but significant (e.g., SURF's Nextcloud pilot), building on standard open components (PostgreSQL, Keycloak), and treating IT as a core government task.
- Organizations should first implement low-hanging fruit (e.g., self-hosted services); if they refuse, it shows lack of genuine commitment.
Goede geluiden over digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months 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.

digital autonomy

The cloud is not a chemical plant - Bert Hubert's writings

Digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings

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

Europe's executives need to skill up to solve our total US cloud dependency - Bert Hubert's writings

Praatjes - Bert Hubert's writings

Lijstduwer, Felipe Rodriquez Award, BNR, NRC, btw en meer - Bert Hubert's writings

BertVote Gemeenteraadsverkiezingen 2026 - Bert Hubert's writings

Rapport digitale autonomie binnen de energie-intensieve industrie voor Energy Innovation NL - Bert Hubert's writings

Big tech clouds worden niet veiliger met stapels papier - Bert Hubert's writings

EU & Civil Society need to progress on Digital Autonomy - Bert Hubert's writings

Do not invite big-tech to join your digital autonomy discussion - Bert Hubert's writings

Digitale Autonomie 2.0: en nu echt - Bert Hubert's writings

Goede geluiden over digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings