Mastodawn

Universities need to think pretty carefully about who gets to look at their data. I have little confidence that our bosses would be any braver than Columbia’s if they were put to the test. And to pay enormous sums - that’s a euphemism for student debt - for products that put our confidential data at risk is very worrying. Everything we do is in the US cloud. Would we put everything in the Russian or Chinese cloud? Never would I have imagined the US as hostile. But…

https://social.edu.nl/@OpenTech_AUC/114874371633650446

OpenTech(AUC) (@OpenTech_AUC@social.edu.nl)

"Microsoft can't protect French data from US government access" "The Senate hearing exposed tensions between sovereignty rhetoric and practical implementation. While French officials promote digital independence, procurement decisions consistently favor non-European solutions for critical infrastructure projects." https://ppc.land/microsoft-cant-protect-french-data-from-us-government-access/ Where have we seen this before? Oh yes on our own university: https://opentech-auc.org/posts/2025-04-15-official-launch-of-nextcloud/ #DigitalSovereignty #BigTech #usfacism

SURF Mastodon

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BashStKid Jul 21

@sellathechemist The only thing I can suggest is a pilot project for a European cloud, starting with the universities as we did a generation ago with the general internet, funded under Horizon, and then rapidly funded and expanded by a very slight business tax.

I don’t see any other path to shared data resources under a European data and privacy rights legal framework.

(Yes, there are plenty of stupid eu decisions, but I don’t see anything better)

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bert hubert 🇺🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦Jul 21

@BashStKid @sellathechemist a lot of writing and perhaps thinking on this European predicament can be found starting at https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/the-european-situation/ or https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/cloud-overview/. There are also paths out of this mess in there but they are not easy.

The European Cloud/Computing Situation - Bert Hubert's writings

A brief addition to the 50000 words I wrote earlier on the cloud: what is the European situation? Software Initially, companies and governments would buy licenses to software. You’d typically have a piece of software in your office, on one of your computers, to calculate payroll with. Most other computers would have copies of WordPerfect installed. This software would function for years without updates or maintenance. If WordPerfect-the-company would disappear, you would not even notice.

Bert Hubert's writings

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eLearningTechie Jul 21

@bert_hubert @BashStKid @sellathechemist They're so deeply entangled with Big Corp at this point, there's no will (or resource) to unchain things .. especially when Big Corp constantly comes up with 'unbeatable deals'. 🙄

I wish it were different, but for the moment the best step forward is grassroots mobilisation and creating demand for alternatives. 🤞

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bert hubert 🇺🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦Jul 21

@eLearningTechie @BashStKid @sellathechemist one interesting place perhaps is https://www.safespring.com/en/ aimed at academia.

Nordic public Cloud Platform | Safespring

Safespring is the alternative that complies with laws and regulations within the EU.

Safespring

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eLearningTechie

@bert_hubert Thank you for that. Any such links are very useful to have to hand.