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Digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings
a day 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.
Btw: Software, turnkey, beheerd, as a service - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration plans to outsource VAT processing to an American company, raising concerns about control and national sovereignty.
- On March 19, a parliamentary committee meeting will discuss this plan, with hopes for reconsideration of the decision.
- The debate has shifted from using American software to full management by Americans, including servers, as 'VAT-as-a-service'.
- Systems for critical tasks range from self-programming (level 0) to total outsourcing (level 5), each with different levels of control and dependency.
- Self-programming offers maximum understanding and flexibility but requires significant investment and responsibility.
- Purchasing software with self-installation provides some independence but still requires expertise and risks from vendor changes.
- Turnkey solutions with integration reduce understanding and increase dependency on the vendor for operation and modifications.
- Managed services (level 4) involve turnkey delivery with ongoing maintenance, leaving the client unable to take over operations and fully dependent on the vendor.
- Fully 'as a service' (level 5) runs software at the vendor's site, ceasing immediately if service stops, as seen with Microsoft 365 in many government agencies.
- The VAT solution proposed for the Tax and Customs Administration aligns with level 4 or 5, risking loss of control over €80 billion in annual revenue to American control.
Some notes on how we ended up with Palantir & how to replace it - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- Governments rely on Palantir not just for software but for exceptional hands-on support and data integration that fills gaps in their own underinvested IT capacity.
- Palantir's support staff are effectively bundled with the software at no extra hourly cost, acting as an accounting trick that avoids hiring expensive internal talent.
- Replacing Palantir requires addressing this operational dependency, either by offering equivalent free support or by governments investing in their own technical staff.
- Journalists should investigate how deeply Palantir staff are integrated into police operations, their costs, clearance levels, and whether governments have outsourced core data operations.
- Efforts to create alternative software must also include a consulting and integration service to replicate Palantir's full package, not just the code.

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Digitale autonomie - Bert Hubert's writings

Btw: Software, turnkey, beheerd, as a service - Bert Hubert's writings

Some notes on how we ended up with Palantir & how to replace it - Bert Hubert's writings