Johan Diederik22h ago
Paris Marx

finland was planning to move its election platform to amazon web services.

after all the threats from the US and concern about how it will use tech dependence against europe, that plan is on ice.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-24/finland-shelves-plan-to-move-election-platform-to-amazon-servers

#tech #europe #finland #elections #politics #digitalsovereignty #amazon

Mar 25 at 2:21amWeb
Show threadChaos Agent Spectre23h ago
@parismarx great news, very paywall
Show threadParis Marx22h ago
@ChaosSpectre use an archive site and stop whining
Show threadReijo Pitkänen20h ago
@parismarx @ChaosSpectre now there would be a useful bot.
Show threadatanasoff21h ago
@parismarx there is no reasons tonuse aws whatsoever. Hetzner have data centre in Finland, use it.
Show threadOsma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦20h ago

There are plenty of data centers in Finland beyond Heztner [and Google, who have one and building another]. Meanwhile, this particular system doesn't need a data center. Just a few servers and their geographically isolated backups.

https://mas.to/@osma/115446994209551410

@atanasoff @parismarx

Osma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦 (@[email protected])

Can you operate a globally reachable service without the hyperscalers? Yes, without much trouble. One server anywhere is enough, though you would benefit from contracting any of various global CDNs for lower latency.

mas.to
Show threadKevin Karhan 19h ago

@osma @atanasoff @parismarx doesn't make it less vulnerable...

https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/116288344713797128

Kevin Karhan :verified: (@[email protected])

@[email protected] now they only need to ban #ElectronicVoting and mandate #PaperBallouts instead…

Infosec.Space
Show threadJulius Mäkinen19h ago
@kkarhan Less vulnerable compared to what? There is no electronic voting in use here.
Show threadKevin Karhan 19h ago
@JMkinen havibg anythi g related to voting, ibcl. Voting Registry, someplace else is a risk…
Show threadJulius Mäkinen19h ago
@kkarhan Someplace else than where the ballots are? Surely we should have backups in Finnish servers that are not near eachother.
Show threadatanasoff18h ago
@osma @parismarx that also, but if they would like to hand over infra maintainance to a provider, European provider that has actuall locations in Finland is the way to go.
Show threadLaura19h ago
@parismarx on ICE?
Show threadConny Nasch18h ago
@laescude 🤔 😂 @parismarx
Show threadKevin Karhan 19h ago
@parismarx now they only need to ban #ElectronicVoting and mandate #PaperBallouts instead…
Show threadAleksandr Koltsoff18h ago
@kkarhan @parismarx https://mementomori.social/@tml/116288532741005933
Show threadKevin Karhan 15h ago

@nihkeys @parismarx @tml still, I'd be too paranoid to even do anything related to elections digitaly.

Show threadBecca19h ago
@parismarx yeah moving finland to a russian asset's platform would be stupid af
Show threadMiha Markič19h ago
@bweller @parismarx indeed, I came here to say that the idea was stupid from the beginning, Orange or not
Show threadTor Lillqvist19h ago

@parismarx Note that "election platform" is a fairly vague term. The actual voting is done with pencil and paper, and votes are counted manually by thousands of volunteers, representing each party, at local counting centres.

There is no electronic voting in Finland, and there are no short-term plans (inside ten years or so) to introduce such.

Show threadMetin Seven 🎨17h ago
@parismarx "Finland" and "on ice", good choice of words. 😉
Show threadNine Stones Close17h ago
@parismarx Europeans and European governments should extracting themselves from US tech services as much as possible and as quickly as possible right now.
Show threadWeymouth Expat17h ago
@parismarx especially when your country is next to "best buddy" and previous elections in us have been rather suspect...
Show threadAGF : poemproducer16h ago
@parismarx jeeee, good
Show threadRynach15h ago
@parismarx We should pressure our social insurance institution Kela next, they made a 589 million € deal with PwC to move their benefit administration systems and services into Salesforce's cloud. https://www.kela.fi/news/pricewaterhousecoopers-business-services-srl-pwc-selected-to-implement-the-reform-of-kela-s-benefit-administration
PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Services SRL (PwC) selected to implement the reform of Kela’s benefit administration

<p><strong>Kela intends to streamline the processes involved in implementing social security by reforming its benefit administration systems and the target-state services these systems will facilitate. Kela has selected PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Services SRL as its strategic partner for the reform after conducting a competitive dialogue in accordance with procurement law. </strong></p>

Kela
Show threadRynach15h ago
@parismarx At the root of this is naivety: our politicians either are not that tech-savvy or they think that Finland has a "special relationship" with the US. That naivety leads into thinking how the problems other countries have will not happen to us, because "we're so special". Digital sovereignty and moving into European alternatives has been a big topic in Finnish public discourse recently, and it even spawned a very popular citizens' initiative.
Show threadswggrkllr3rd15h ago
@parismarx That plan is finnished.
Show threadHenrik Pauli15h ago
@parismarx That's such a ridiculously stupid idea even if the US and American corporates were trustworthy, that I don't even.
Show threadSiim Ošur15h ago
@phl @parismarx I don't get it either. Where's the logic? Our system in EE, is self-hosted AFAIK. The idea of doing anything in the cloud related to such an integral system to democracy is beyond me. Nobody should ever give any leverage to someone else over such a system.
Show threadaqunt5h ago

@parismarx in unrelated news:

https://yle.fi/a/74-20217017

Finns trust the US about as much as they do Russia, China

Finns place almost as little trust in the United States as they do in China and Russia, according to a new poll.

News