Mastodawn

Initiative #WeAreEurope Mar 30

I do not think Americans realise the far reaching economic consequences of having elected Donald Trump.

While the Danes have elected a new parliament which may push for less military purchases from the U.S., the citizens of Denmark have now presented two new citizen petitions: One requiring parliament to make it illegal to use Peter Thiel's Palantir AI surveilance software, and another one preventing the use of American technologies in our national health systems.

Welcome to the Trump economy.

JimmyB (he/him)Mar 30

@randahl something every country should be doing. Good leadership from the Danes!

@randahl good on Denmark and the informed public

Christopher Isene Mar 30

@randahl Swedes and Sweden should follow too.

We could even collaborate around creating systems for medical journals together, modular, open source, API-first.

Darren du Nord Mar 30

@randahl I think its becoming clear to most of them by now. What a wasted opportunity the last 25 years have been.

Britstralian Mar 30

@randahl How long until "American technologies " includes Microsoft?

Martijn Vos Mar 30

@Nigel_Lake @randahl

It should include all US cloud services, including Azure. And Windows 11 is such a security nightmare it should be banned from government systems anyway.

@Nigel_Lake @randahl I work excluding with Microsoft software. Our customers are heavily invested with Microsoft. It will be much work and take long time.

I would say that the mood is worried. The trust is gone.

Britstralian Mar 30

@Paladin @randahl It's really tough. Then again, if you run a business where data security matters - especially outside the USA - thrn this is a problem with which you must eventually grapple. It's easy to put in the 'too hard' basket - but at some point Microsoft could easily be required to disable software in a particular country...

[Added] Meanwhile, I see China began a fairly systematic effort to shift to different operating systems around five years ago...

@Nigel_Lake @randahl It is a matter of investments in the end. I have no doubt the change will come.

The orange idiot won't become sane any time soon.

Conny Nasch Mar 30

@Nigel_Lake thank you for the Chinese info, I had not been aware of that, even though it is perfectly logical. They are on the way to becoming the next "soft power" replacing what the Mango Mussolini has destroyed.

Britstralian Mar 31

@connynasch I never cease to be unsurprised by how far ahead the Chinese think...

Paul Schoe Mar 30

@Paladin @Nigel_Lake @randahl

The first step is requiring documents to be stored in ODF (Open Document Format).

Then it will easier later to change the software.

@paulschoe @Nigel_Lake @randahl Harder to change from using an agent to help me with code in Visual Studio Code having plugins to Azure and Claude Coude.

Replacing all the services in Azure will take so much time.

Olivier Burnier Mar 30

@Paladin @paulschoe @Nigel_Lake @randahl As we say in France, Rome was not build in one day.
We have to start somewhere.

@OlivierBurnier @paulschoe @Nigel_Lake @randahl Oh yes, but I expect a timespan well over a decade.

James Tweedie Mar 30

@Nigel_Lake @randahl Already underway...
https://www.slashgear.com/1888658/microsoft-office-alternative-denmark-libreoffice-linux-why-move-important-explained/

Also: https://office.eu

Personally using LibreOffice and a NextCloud service to replace Microsoft and Google. Works well.

Some European Countries Are Ditching Microsoft Software For Good (And Here's Why That Matters) - SlashGear

Several European governments and organizations have decided to drop Microsoft products like Office or Windows in favor of open-source equivalents. Here's why.

SlashGear

Viking Chieftain Mar 30

Go Denmark! 🇩🇰 💕

@randahl Germany has not yet come that far. They're still considering mass surveillance and use of Palantir etc., even though the EU courts have ruled multiple times already that mass surveillance and storage of said data is illegal. But they don't stop pushing. Both major parties, CDU/CSU and SPD. They really think they can solve crime with a mouse click and AI.
Hopeless.
And the dumb herd still votes for them every 4 years when they don't vote for the Nazis.
I hope Denmark will set standards.

@Brokar @randahl oh they definitely don’t think it’ll solve crime lol. that’s just the excuse they’re using to trojan horse this shit into society

@randahl As it should be

swggrkllr3rd Mar 30

@randahl Before UK can come back to EU, they ditch palantir. https://mastodon.world/@swggrkllr3rd/116017878026457262

@swggrkllr3rd @randahl Oh those black shirts...

Conny Nasch Mar 30

@swggrkllr3rd @randahl
And the Reform Party and the Conservative Party and the (New) Labour Party.

Luke Harby Mar 30

@randahl Doesn't Denmark also produce the world's highest amount of renewable energy per capita? I'm sure I read that somewhere.

RightSprung will not comply Mar 30

@randahl perfect. Here is hoping Canada will follow suit.

Conny Nasch Mar 30

@rightsprung with Carney - it has already begun, I check often with "Mr Finance", who fives a strong resumé of what is going on. Exhaustive but attaching.

Martijn Vos Mar 30

European governments and sensitive private infrastructure (like banks, healthcare, etc) should not be using US cloud providers at all. It's been blatantly obvious that they're legally unable to obey our laws, and under Trump, that conflict has become a lot more urgent.

@randahl The leadership from down up will hurt the most. No compromises.

In the end the America as envisioned by Trump will stand alone.
And it will need a lot of repair to let the trust upon this vile treason return.
Trump should be removed and put on trial.

We have the examples from Brazil and South Korea… his behavior is unacceptable and unconstitutional.

Lightfighter Mar 30

@xs4me2 @randahl Unfortunately I don't think enough Americans understand that simply electing not-Trump, doesn't resolve the issue. Without prosecutions and structural changes, tyranny is only an election away. No country in their right mind is going to trust us until such actions are taken, and even then it will take quite a while to regain any semblance of international trust we had before.

Count Holdem Mar 30

@Lightfighter Some of that may happen, with recent polls showing Independents growing to near twice the classic Democrat-Republican duopoly.

Also a considerable factor is more countries 'regressing to the mean', after accelerated globalization. Lacking an education revolution keeping more of the masses in sync with these swings, your synopsis of dragged-out mitigation, may be all that much more apropos.

@CountHoldem @Lightfighter

There needs to be significant change indeed, but the capitalist ultrarich will try everything in their might to prevent this...

@Lightfighter @xs4me2 @randahl I would say that the wakeup call has sounded and there is no going back to sleep.

Half the country voted for fascism several times. Their political and judicial system is deeply corrupt. Their ways will not change.

@Paladin @Lightfighter @randahl

I think the evil will come back to haunt and consume them...

@xs4me2 @Lightfighter @randahl Soon enough they will only be able to do business with russia and a few more countries.

russia has the sameish GNP as Spain, the clown threatens to stop doing business with Spain. I am sure that the EU wouldn't take that lying down.

@Paladin @Lightfighter @randahl

Exactly my point too indeed...

Self destruction...

Conny Nasch Mar 30

@xs4me2 they will never recover, I hope their economy can withstand this immense stress, but I do doubt it.

Self-inflicted damage, how a nation of immigrants took a 180 turn and became anti foreigner and a nation of unfreedom based on a few ultrarich that want control to protect their horded capital. It is the endgame of neoliberal capitalism it seems, winner takes all...

With a grifting populist megalomaniac serial liar in charge...

Unbelievable...

Conny Nasch Mar 30

@xs4me2 I have the luxury to belong to a population that is very comfortable, we have free public transport, which is clean and generally on time, nearly free healthcare and a superb environment regularly cleaned. Plus a jobless support which many would take as a salary (it is regularly updated so that one can live correctly). That makes for a almost crime-free environment. Me, born in Germany, grew up in South Africa, now a proud and very happy Luxemburger. Our premier - commercial head 😁

Practically neighbours! In the Netherlands here and in here in Western Europe we can praise ourselves very, very lucky with the freedom, freedom of speech, healthcare and luxury we are enjoying.

But it pains me a lot of what I am seeing in unfreedom and lies in the USA with a dictator in charge and in the death and killing going on in the Middle East... and then we have Ukraine and the cruel war Putin is waging on innocent people...

Make it stop please....

The Animal and the Machine Mar 30

@randahl
Exactly as I predicted. US tech is a global leader because the US military was the security leader and demanded equal access for tech markets that fail ethical tests.

US provided security was a gift that turned into a trade. The US has pulled their side and technology will now flip to European. It’s the Google and Starbucks tax rebalance I’m looking forward to.

Conny Nasch Mar 30

@taatm 😁 @randahl

Peet Tetteroo Mar 30

@randahl They also decided in June 2025 to ditch Microsoft and go for open source LibreOffice.. This shift is also taking place in other EU countries with a strong drive to open-source software. For Example all 85.000laptops used by the French Gendarmerie are using Ubuntu as their OS. By late 2027 all 2.5 million government personnel in France will be using open source software (they started in 2024 with this project)

Conny Nasch Mar 30

FurballsNHairballs Mar 30

@randahl
They didnt care as long as they could hate everyone legally.

Douglas Edwards

@randahl And we need to ensure that the pain is felt exclusively by billionaires, when the public does wake up.

They stole it all. They aren't entitled to any of it.

Take all of it. Leave them with nothing.

Passwordsarehard4 Mar 30

@dedicto @randahl no, way too many people were fine to watch neighbors disappear. We were content to watch as our brothers and sisters were murdered. We stood by as they imprisoned our grandparents. How can we watch this all and not be punished? They raped our children while we were paying them to protect us, and we gave them even more after we knew.

Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲Mar 30

I'm an American and I appreciate this. Our health care system is awful unless youre very wealthy. And Pantir is an evil organization that should be stopped wherever it can.

Neil Moffatt Mar 30

@randahl Uber-unwise to elect a pathologically egocentric criminal to run a powerful nation.

An insanity to do so as much as it was insane to allow him to be a candidate.

There are, it seems, no standards of the highest office - another insanity.

Omnivore Mar 30

Left side:
Afskaf Palantir i Danmark
ID: FT-22854
LÆS OP
-
Borgerforslaget går på at afskaffe brugen af Palantir i offentlige institutioner i Danmark. Palantir er i anvendelse i bl.a. Politiets Pol-Intel.

Right side:
Startdato
05. marts 2026
Slutdato
01. september 2026
Antal støtter
3.491
Et samlet patient-journalsystem i Danmark, hvor data og milliarder af kroner ikke går til USA.
ID: FT-23074
LÆS OP

@randahl I'm an American who realizes these things but I also never voted for him. I'm kind of stuck getting dragged into things the other Americans are dragging us more sane citizens into.

Jeroen van Tol 🍋 ✞

@gailen I think no Europeans blame you, we see the massa protests, I know a lot of nice Americans, but we have to defend European values. @randahl

@TheDutchChief
I honestly encourage that. The US needs to be ostracized until we get our affairs in order.
@randahl

Ray Saltrelli Mar 30

@randahl I don't think anyone could have predicted the details, but many of us vaguely knew that being a dick the rest of the world would ultimately not go well for us. Now we're going to see that play out. Do what you must. It's the only way we will learn.

Rev Nathan Ⓥ↔️🇺🇦🇨🇦🇵🇸🇬🇱Mar 30

@randahl @BubblegumYeti they (“we”) don’t. I get so frustrated having to explain it to grown adults. It’s so obvious to me that I want to scream.

Erwin Rossen 🔸Mar 30

@randahl How I envy the Danish politics.

zetabeta Mar 30

@randahl
it is slightly like an advertisement.

in finland there is formal initiative going on.

https://mastodon.social/@digitaalineni[email protected]
https://digitaalinenitsenaisyys.fi/
https://www.kansalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/16691

serious disclaimer: initiative has sponsors.

basically, it demands independence from foreign digital and technology services, mostly cloud services.

but those danish petitions sound good idea at this time.

Digitaalinen itsenäisyys

Suomen arki, demokratia ja turvallisuus nojaavat yhä enemmän digitaalisiin järjestelmiin. Vaalit, sosiaaliturva, verotus ja monet muut yhteiskunnan perustoiminnot pyörivät tietojärjestelmien varassa. Silti yhä useammin nämä kriittiset palvelut ja niissä oleva tieto ollaan siirtämässä EU:n ulkopuolisten suuryritysten hallintaan.

Digitaalinen itsenäisyys