I wish people had even higher expectations for #instantMessaging apps: #Privacy, #noAds, freedom from corporate interests, respect for #humanRights, low energy consumption, #digitalSovereignty. And not AI powered, flashy #stickers.
Free and federated applications and services, made and run by e.g. small cooperatives or volunteers, cannot compete with billion dollar companies on resources. We have other strengths, though!
(Btw. I love stickers!)
A collectively curated list of non-US-based alternatives to popular services, because it is time to prioritise our privacy, security, and digital sovereignty.
Lesenswert (Pflichtlektüre 
)
#Digital is physical. Digital is not #green. Digital costs the #Earth.
@gerrymcgovern #it #sustainability #foss #opensource #DigitaleSouveränität #digitalsovereignty #ClimateAction #klimakrise #deutschland
Donald Trump’s aggression is forcing many countries to reconsider their dependence on US tech — but can Europe really carve out its own path?
On #TechWontSaveUs, I spoke with Aline Blankertz to discuss the challenges of digital sovereignty in Europe.
Listen to the full episode: https://techwontsave.us/episode/271_can_europe_end_its_dependence_on_us_tech_w_aline_blankertz
It was a real pleasure to chat with Jack Tame on Q+A about why now is the time to think seriously about reducing our reliance on US tech companies and what to make of Elon Musk’s alliance with Donald Trump.
He hosts a great programme and I was really happy to be invited on.
@EUCommission I would much more like to see all these huge funds and resources be invested into free/libre and opensource software and hardware communities and projects. If any useful, truly AI and truly anything helpful for society is there, this is where it would most likely come from. And it would come out organically and out of real need. Not forcing it at any cost, just because someone has some FOMO.
Is It Time for European Technology Alternatives?
#opensource #digitalsovereignty
https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/is-it-time-for-european-technology-alternatives/
Registrations are now open for NGI Forum 2025!
Brussels | 
19–20 June 2025
Join the NGI community for two days of discussions on: 
Open Internet Stack Digital Commons & Sovereignty AI, Web Search & Internet Governance
Meet the minds shaping a more open, human-centric internet.
Register: https://ngi.eu/ngi-forum25/
It was great to go back on RNZ Saturday Morning to chat with Susie Ferguson about what it might look like to start decoupling from US tech as Trump’s tariffs wake us up to the problems that comes with being so dependent on it.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018981977/paris-marx-decoupling-from-us-tech-giants
Last chance for Nextcloud Summit early-bird tickets! 
Join industry leaders & digital sovereignty experts in Munich, Germany on June 5, 2025. Don’t miss out!
Get yours now: https://nextcloud.com/summit/
A great example for #DigitalSovereignty done right is the French city of @echirolles that not only signs declarations but also uses #FOSS in practice, like #ZorinOS, @bigbluebutton, @libreoffice, @nextcloud and @peertube.
European cities, take note.
Especially those that are members of this coalition: https://citiesfordigitalrights.org/cities
Information about the UK #cybersecurity Bill coming out today:
Missing:
* Protections for encryption
* Explicit discussion of #digitalsovereignty and the need to transition to #opensource #foss
* Safeguards against future self inflicted cybersecurity disasters through hiding vulnerabilities leading to incidents like WannaCry
@openrightsgroup will be making the case for these changes
Today is World Backup Day – a reminder to secure your data! At @mailbox_org you benefit from automatic server backups, encrypted storage, and high security standards in German data centers. Stay in control of your e-mails and files!
Linux Foundation Europe launches the NeoNephos Foundation to advance digital sovereignty and open cloud infrastructure in Europe.
#DigitalSovereignty my ass
"Germany plans to use #surveillance software from #Palantir countrywide."
"On March 18, politicians in the Netherlands House of Representatives passed eight motions asking the government to reduce reliance on US tech companies and move to European alternatives. Days before, more than 100 organizations signed an open letter to European officials calling for the continent to become “more technologically independent” and saying the status quo creates “security and reliability risks.”
Two European-based cloud service companies, Exoscale and Elastx, tell WIRED they have seen an uptick in potential customers looking to abandon US cloud providers over the last two weeks—with some already starting to make the jump. Multiple technology advisers say they are having widespread discussions about what it would take to uproot services, data, and systems.
“We have more demand from across Europe,” says Mathias Nöbauer, the CEO of Swiss-based hosting provider Exoscale, adding there has been an increase in new customers seeking to move away from cloud giants. “Some customers were very explicit,” Nöbauer says. “Especially customers from Denmark being very explicit that they want to move away from US hyperscalers because of the US administration and what they said about Greenland.”"
We need a free/libre fork of #Android for the public commons. Google cannot be trusted.
Maybe that could be #lineageos or #Graphene, but given that they build on top of Android rather than driving the core development, I'm not certain they would be enough as it stands.
https://9to5google.com/2025/03/26/google-android-aosp-developement-private/
@xwiki joins the list of companies that endorse the UN Open Source Principles!
We're pleased to share that the United Nations has switched from MS365 Forms to CryptPad forms for collecting endorsements on the UN Open Source Principles.
Thanks to all who advocated for this change!
On the rocky road to making open source the standard!
To endorse the UN Open Source Principles : https://unite.un.org/news/fifteen-organizations-endorse-un-open-source-principles
#UN #OpenSource #Privacy #DigitalSovereignty #CryptPad #XWiki #foss #news
Given global developments, European businesses and individuals face a choice: continue relying on US technologies or gain greater data control and sovereignty.
We are happy that @mailbox_org has been listed as a leading European alternative by european-alternatives.eu.
Discover the benefits of our email solution: https://european-alternatives.eu/category/email-providers
