Comment: We are digitally unsovereign

Yesterday, at breakfast. My wife and I are talking about the current world situation: Trump, who is terminating the partnership with Europe and no longer wants to support Ukraine. An unimaginable 500 billion (or 800 billion? or 1.5 trillion?) euros in new debt to help Europe achieve military independence. European dependence on US intelligence.

And my wife asks: didn't anyone see this before?

They saw it, but turned a blind eye to it. The pattern is the same everywhere: how long have we been discussing the fact that nothing works in Germany and Europe without US software and services? So far, however, without any serious consequences. Apart from a few lip services to digital sovereignty on the part of politicians and individual initiatives such as the European Chips Act (from which, ironically, the US chip manufacturer Intel was to receive money), not much has happened.

Unsovereignty doesn't just cost money

The result: rising license and subscription costs are grudgingly swallowed and repeated security disasters are accepted. It is an open secret that the use of Microsoft 365 or the storage of sensitive data with US hyperscalers is not easily possible in compliance with the GDPR – Attempts to cheat their way around this were given a big slap on the wrist by the European Court of Justice in 2015 (Safe Harbour Agreement) and 2020 (Privacy Shield). None of this has changed anything. Data protection, money, IT security – - the main thing is to keep things as comfortable as before.

But now a president is in power in the USA who likes to escalate things to the end. Who threatens his partners with tariffs and trade wars and questions NATO's commitment to provide assistance. Whose patron Elon Musk has suggested cutting off Ukraine's Starlink, which is needed to control drones. This brings a scenario into the realm of possibility that was previously dismissed as unrealistic: the USA using its digital dominance to put pressure on other countries.

How many European companies and authorities would still be able to operate without Microsoft 365, cloud services from AWS, CRM from Salesforce, Google Analytics and DDoS protection from Akamai? How many store operators rely on the Amazon marketplace? How many company ITs are built around IBM's offerings?

Act now!

The potential failure of software and services from the USA has become a real risk. Companies and authorities need a plan for this just as much as for ransomware attacks and other cyber incidents. And they need to free themselves from dependencies.

This requires alternatives – and politicians are called upon to support the development of alternatives and the transition to them. It's time for Europe to overcome its digital sovereignty.

PS: If you want to get started now, software developer Constantin Graf has compiled a list of numerous European software and service providers as alternatives to US manufacturers at european-alternatives.eu.

(odi)