Mastodawn

Kevin Dominik Korte

So, the Dutch government tried to whitewash Amazon's sovereign cloud offering, only to be called out so hard that they had to withdraw the paper.
#digitalsovereignty
https://nltimes.nl/2026/03/05/dutch-govt-pulls-report-dangers-american-cloud-service-criticism

Dutch gov't pulls report on dangers of American cloud service after criticism

The Ministry of Justice and Security removed a report on the risks of Amazon’s “European Sovereign Cloud” service shortly after publishing it. This followed critics saying that the report underestimates the service’s dangers and illustrates the government’s tunnel vision regarding American big tech, the Volkskrant reports.

NL Times

@kdkorte "The Ministry of Justice and Security’s Strategic Supplier Management (SLM) department, which negotiates contracts with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft on behalf of the government, asked lawyers from the American law firm Greenberg Traurig to study the European Sovereign Cloud and analyze its risks. The lawyers concluded that it is possible for the U.S. government to gain access to data or suspend services through law and informal pressure, but they considered it unlikely to happen." 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

@kdkorte This is like me asking my cats if they should have unlimited treats.

There are so many “unlikely events” happening in the realm of international relations! So yes, if the parent company is American, the services and data are not secure.

Kevin Dominik Korte Mar 6

@ahalam @Gina Unlikely and totally predictable. Or at least predictable to people the US establishment likes to label Conspiracy Theorists, like Michael Moore.

Nico Rikken Mar 6

@Gina @kdkorte I was most disappointed by the lawyers placing a lot of trust in the technology as a backstop for legal matters, even though technology wasn't looked into. It would lead to engineers relying on the lawyers and the lawyers relying on the engineers and both failing to call out the risk.

Kevin Dominik Korte Mar 6

@nicorikken @Gina "Not my problem" seems to be a rather common defense against any predictable IT governance issues. Right next to "we fix it with the next release."

Kevin Dominik Korte Mar 6

@Gina, For the past 3 US presidents, "Unlikely to happen." seems to be akin to the challenge. Almost like asking: "Hold my beer."

Open Risk Mar 6

@kdkorte "Barbara Kathmann, the chair of the Standing Committee on Digital Affairs, told the Volkskrant that she often hears the SLM referred to as “the Dutch Ministry of Microsoft.”🤣

Part of the difficulty imho is that vast numbers of people never experienced anything else than bigtech. And while they are totally dependent and their life is increasingly shaped by "ICT", historically they didn't actually think it's important. It was always a nuisance to be outsourced, not living part of the org

Renke Meuwese Mar 6

@kdkorte ik zat in die thread, was echt hi-la-risch. Ik denk dat de arme man had gedacht dat er hoogstens een paar teamgenoten of iemand van AWS op zou reageren, misschien nog iemand van Microsoft? Maar in plaats daarvan kwamen @bert_hubert, @queen_fennec en anderen even hun zegje doen, en daarna ging het hard.

@kdkorte @bert_hubert Well done!

Jarrod Urban Mar 6

@kdkorte Does anyone have a copy of the report? The article does not link to it.

Renke Meuwese Mar 6

@jarrodu @kdkorte it's been republished at https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2026/02/26/onderzoeksrapport-aws-esc, with a new explanation by the department that published it, which actually incorporates some of the criticism against the report, and basically makes the report a waste of money and time.

Onderzoeksrapport AWS ESC

Op verzoek van SLM heeft Greenberg Traurig onderzoek gedaan van de AWS European Sovereign Cloud (ESC) ten aanzien van soevereiniteit op data en op de beschikbaarheid van het systeem, vanuit het perspectief van de overheidsorganisatie. Dit onderzoeksrapport beschrijft de uitkomsten van dit onderzoek. Dit document is in het Engels.Onderzoeksrapport AWS ESC

Kevin Dominik Korte Mar 6

@meuwese @jarrodu Depends on which side of the contract you are on. I'm sure the company that produced that report and then was paid to edit it considers the money well earned.

Jarrod Urban Mar 6

@kdkorte @meuwese Have either of you read it? I am about 10 pages in so far.

Renke Meuwese Mar 6

@jarrodu @kdkorte I didn't read it very closely back then, but it seemed to me to be largely irrelevant to the current discussion. We know that the law provides reasonable, though not complete, protections. The urgency of the current debate arises from a US government that seems very willing to ignore the law, both domestic and international.

Kevin Dominik Korte Mar 6

@meuwese @jarrodu I think it goes further. Most of the espionage and anti-terror laws enacted since September 11th are written to grant broad statutory authority. So far, the Presidents haven't even reached their full scope. After all, "We are the good guys."

So, the US government doesn't even need to ignore the law; they simply need to make use of all the exceptions and justifications provided.

Kevin Dominik Korte Mar 6

@jarrodu @meuwese I did read it, and I find the assumptions rather problematic. For example, they gloss over the sanctions against the ICC and don't even mention the sanctions against former EU Commission members.
It also makes a couple of logical jumps from historical situations to risk predictions without really explaining the thought process behind them.

In many places, it almost seems as if they wrote the conclusion and then tried to justify it.

marcvdvalk Mar 6

@jarrodu @kdkorte https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2026/02/26/onderzoeksrapport-aws-esc

Onderzoeksrapport AWS ESC

Op verzoek van SLM heeft Greenberg Traurig onderzoek gedaan van de AWS European Sovereign Cloud (ESC) ten aanzien van soevereiniteit op data en op de beschikbaarheid van het systeem, vanuit het perspectief van de overheidsorganisatie. Dit onderzoeksrapport beschrijft de uitkomsten van dit onderzoek. Dit document is in het Engels.Onderzoeksrapport AWS ESC

@kdkorte tip @barbarakathmann @bert_hubert #amazon #politiek #witwassen