I have been using email for 40 years. It used to work.

As an (independent) academic researcher, I need to contact new people, primarily in universities, to ask questions.

I refuse to use Google, Microsoft or the other American IT giants.

But they are increasingly preventing refuseniks from sending email at all.

I know what RFC, DNS, MX, SPF and DMARC mean. My email goes through small British companies with intelligent, friendly and helpful staff.

mxtoolbox.com says that I must have DMARC to send email to M$. So I set it up. I now get a dozen copies of the same report from G or M$ for each email that I send out.

They show that my email gets to G and M$ sites, but then it is marked as spam.

The stupid senior management of numerous universities has surrendered their staff email to M$.

Web searches and AIs preach about spam. I don't send spam - I want to contact my colleagues.

Rumour has it that previously unknown senders are treated with suspicion and their emails are sent to spam. In other words, it is impossible to **initiate** communication with someone.

Let's be blunt about this. They are a mafia that is enforcing an **oligopoly**. It's got nothing to do with reducing spam --- I have no doubt that they let through emails from "trusted partners", ie companies that bribe them enough to send their spam.

The result of this is that it will only be possible to send emails by paying M$ to do it, and then it will only be allowed to express "approved" opinions.

What can we do about this?

At the very least, those of you with senior positions in universities can tell your management to revert to competent standards-based email systems hosted on Linux systems.

Laatste kans! Reageer t/m 21 april op de internetconsultaties voor 3 #OpenStandaarden

🔐 OAuth 2.0 (v1.1) -> Veiliger autoriseren.
⚙️ OpenAPI Spec (v3.1) -> Uniforme REST API's.
📊 DCAT-AP-NL (v3.0) -> Uniforme metadata voor datasets.

Jouw expertise is nodig om de digitale overheid te verbeteren.

👉 Reageer hier: https://www.forumstandaardisatie.nl/nieuws/drie-openbare-consultaties-online-oas-31-oauth-nl-11-dcat-ap-nl

#DigitaleOverheid #interoperabiliteit #API #metadata #overheid

@DigitaleOverheid

Companies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them

If they don’t, the penalty should be that the CEO has to eat the bricked devices

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/09/amazon-upsets-book-lovers-by-ending-support-for-old-kindles

57 free and open source projects are selected for grants in the ninth open call of the NGI Zero Commons Fund.

We want the thank these projects teams and all applicants for their contribution to the digital commons. They are building digital infrastructure that fosters user autonomy, resiliency, interoperability, openness, accessibility, and strive for technical excellence.

Come over to read all about the projects:
https://nlnet.nl/news/2026/20260409-announce-commons-fund.html

#NGI #NGI0 #FOSS #fossfunding

I’m delighted to announce that the OpenPGP implementation in #Conversations_im will see some love over the next ~6 months. Simultaneously, we will be laying the groundwork for OMEMO2 by implementing Stanza Content Encryption.

Thanks to funding from @nlnet and the European Commission.

https://nlnet.nl/project/Conversations-OpenPGP-refresh/

#XMPP #Jabber #OMEMO #OpenPGP

Hoe RUG breekt met Big Tech

https://www.dutchitleaders.nl/interview/728067/hoe-rug-breekt-met-big-tech-en-koerst-op-digitale-autonomie

Op de vraag wat haar belangrijkste advies is aan collega-CIO’s in zowel de publieke als private sector, is haar antwoord resoluut: "Wacht niet op Europese wetgeving. Eis zelf de regie op over je data en je autonomie. Zoek de 'coalition of the willing' binnen je eigen organisatie en werk interdisciplinair. Hou het niet in de smalle koker van de IT-afdeling; betrek de business, de wetenschappers en de juristen vanaf dag één."