bert hubert 🇺🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦

From Politico, @npub1w64…zvuh @npub18k9…30hx and me on how the Netherlands is about to see its national government service login infrastructure move to US spying/sanction regulation: https://www.politico.eu/article/netherlands-eu-us-tech-digid-donald-trump-policy/

2026-01-20 17:52:22 GMT

Don’t threaten me with a good time Satya
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/928/689/949/034/225/original/77591eb95f9a3624.jpeg

2026-01-19 08:27:49 GMT

People, with #Greenland raising awareness of our massive 24/7 dependence on US clouds for vital services, I made a list of what (government) stuff would break here under US sanctions. It is EXTREMELY depressing. Can I suggest that people also make a list like this one for their own countries? It is getting quite some traction here: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/dashboard-amerikaanse-afhankelijkheden/

2026-01-19 08:21:54 GMT

This mad king message from Donald Trump has now been confirmed by many very reliable sources to be real. Unbelievable:
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/920/789/532/719/160/original/196b665791438d95.png

2026-01-14 10:13:37 GMT

RE: https://mastodon.social/@hennavirkkunen/115888721732640894
I’ve been informed this is an official account and that makes it good news!
#note1lpm…vemt

2026-01-10 11:51:59 GMT

Please people, if you respond to an article, please respond to things actually IN the article, not what you imagined to be in there!

2026-01-10 11:21:45 GMT

In a recent FT article, the director of Cybersecurity Belgium claimed it was impossible to store data within the EU. "Dream on" he said. This reflects the widespread lack of IT understanding among executives, who should urgently wise up & help us regain our digital autonomy: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/ft-on-european-cloud/

2026-01-07 12:06:57 GMT

To compete with AWS and other hyperscalers, you need more than technology. Large incumbent cloud providers are also selling comfort to corporate employees. And if you too want to rake in billions of revenues, you had best be selling that too: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/aws-and-microsoft-are-selling-much-more-than-cloud/

2026-01-07 07:44:59 GMT

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@thomasfuchs/115849377743052250
These are fun observations but AI is not like these things and will continue to disrupt our lives for decades. https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/an-ai-premortem/

2026-01-04 10:27:17 GMT

From a long fermenting blog post draft. Venezuelan oil is not that interesting since it is tricky to process & thus very expensive, while oil demand is declining:
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/836/341/994/405/933/original/f46527f6c1edcd4a.png

2026-01-03 21:20:37 GMT

Now, in the Obama/Bin Laden version of this photo, you could spot different colored wires indicating different classified networks. Not so much here. Also note the Twitter screen in the background. /cc @npub1zzp…6887
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/833/254/269/899/339/original/05dac764bb7c9450.png

2026-01-02 12:19:07 GMT

Nonsense in the FT: "Miguel De Bruycker, director of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB), told the Financial Times that it was “currently impossible” to store data fully in Europe because US companies dominate digital infrastructure". Nonsense, yet policymakers believe this - I talk about our *Self-inflicted* cloud crisis in this piece: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/our-self-inflicted-cloud-crisis/

2026-01-01 12:00:04 GMT

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signal has mostly been saying "trust us, only Amazon can do this, and it is harder than you think, nerd". Not very satisfying. Taking Signal a notch down in terms of trustworthiness.

2025-12-29 18:06:33 GMT

The responses to my posts on nuclear power just now have confirmed an older finding: the biggest enemy of successful nuclear power may be the fans of nuclear power.

2025-12-29 16:58:19 GMT

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Good link on the challenges of molten salt: https://thebulletin.org/2022/06/molten-salt-reactors-were-trouble-in-the-1960s-and-they-remain-trouble-today/

2025-12-29 16:24:23 GMT

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thing is, if you follow the history of (small) nuclear power, the promise is always that THIS design will be safe, simple, affordable AND run on fuel that we actually have. And it always turns out you can't get all of these at the same time. Molten salt has proven to be VERY tricky for example. By now, you need to be a believer to assume that this time it will work.

2025-12-29 16:14:40 GMT

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A true believer! I just updated https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/nuclear-no-yes-maybe-but-not-like-this/ but it is aging well.

2025-12-29 16:05:04 GMT

'In practice, a “small” reactor brings all the big problems of a conventional reactor: dangerous radioactive fuel, complex safety systems, and the risk of catastrophic failure or sabotage. The only thing that’s truly small about SMRs is their inability to benefit from the economies of scale that, in theory, were supposed to make large reactors affordable — but never actually did.' - https://www.climateandcapitalmedia.com/the-nuclear-mirage-why-small-modular-reactors-wont-save-nuclear-power/

2025-12-29 09:46:55 GMT

RE: https://graphics.social/@metin/115802096953677093
This reminds me of the *multiple* kids named Lanesra by (mostly) fathers trying to sneak their favorite football team past the rest of the family. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-35244969
#note1hql…hvw2

2025-12-23 21:17:49 GMT

US issues sanctions / visa bans on several EU (former) officials. Amazing stuff, check out the language used. But by all means let us run our governments & vital services on US cloud providers! (let us NOT, to be clear).
https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/12/announcement-of-actions-to-combat-the-global-censorship-industrial-complex/

2025-12-23 10:32:38 GMT

So how about Europe's cloud woes? A lot happened in 2025, and things became much clearer. We truly can't continue to wed our governments to 🇺🇸 clouds. While there are encouraging developments, it is incredibly odd that neither cloud buyers nor the European 🇪🇺 software/hosting industry are seeing the urgency to act. But, governments & regulators could forge a useful path towards a solution in 2026:
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/the-european-cloud-2025/

2025-12-21 19:54:40 GMT

Pretty cool - it turns out that the way I write my blog posts is called 'BLUF': Bottom Line up Front, and it was standardized by the US Army in their information management guidelines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLUF_(communication)

2025-12-21 12:20:33 GMT

Rule of thumb, whenever you are about to type in that people should "just" do something, step away from the keyboard and read up on the situation. If it were a "just" thing it would've happened by now. I know I'm a broken record on this subject, but you can really improve your thinking by just (lol) treating "just" as a signal word you are likely not seeing the whole picture.

2025-12-21 12:07:41 GMT

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You might be surprised to learn that a lot of thinking has been done already on why this obvious thing hasn't happened. https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/our-self-inflicted-cloud-crisis/

2025-12-21 11:53:24 GMT

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I invite you to read through https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/the-european-cloud-ladder/ and ponder what it is you think people should just build. Also take a look at https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/beware-cloud-is-part-of-the-software/

2025-12-19 17:48:55 GMT

“Don’t say you are good at Vibe Coding. Say you are a… Smooth Sloperator”

2025-12-17 07:04:13 GMT

RE: https://squeet.me/display/962c3e10-94b744dc-07045abf8e5e1471
Two new #galileo satellites launched, strengthening Europe’s own “GPS”, already used by all our phones and newer cars. And in a first, launched on our own Ariane 6 rocket.
#note1wpw…nw69

2025-12-14 10:21:43 GMT

Thursday, the EU launched a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium for Digital Commons. During this launch, EU & national authorities were *crystal clear* on how large our digital autonomy challenges are in the Trump era. I delivered a keynote in which I outlined how dependent we are technically and culturally on US big tech, and I offered some modest advice: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/keynote-opening-digital-commons-edic-eu/

2025-12-13 23:09:58 GMT

@npub1ysw…uzpe
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/714/777/204/941/986/original/a69267768a8cc7da.jpeg

2025-12-07 17:36:45 GMT

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18:32:46.713663 IP 52.136.217.168.443 > 192.168.1.41.54694: Flags [.], ack 7968, win 65535, length 0
- yes!

2025-12-07 17:28:09 GMT

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The machine is "OFF" and it is STILL sending data to Microsoft Azure. You could not invent this world.

2025-12-07 17:17:06 GMT

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Also this is some ESP8266 level performance! It's MAC address is registered to Miele, which is a nice touch.
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/679/412/780/872/478/original/d99e46280d1749ab.png

2025-12-07 17:03:20 GMT

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And yes, I personally know what to do to stop this. But it is not about me, it is about population level exploitation of data. Bah again.

2025-12-07 17:01:27 GMT

Was forced to install the Miele app because it is the only way to tell the washing machine to clean itself. It asks you for permission to have third parties process and analyze your data no less than **8 times**. Ridiculous. I bet it will keep on asking until you give up. Also it is probably selling my data anyhow. Bah.

2025-11-29 11:39:12 GMT

Anytime you see Microsoft or any US company state the CLOUD Act is not such a big deal for Europe, do ask them if they can reassure us on FISA 702 and EO12333 as well. You will not get an answer. Here @npub1w4r…8cxz sets it out nicely: https://edri.org/our-work/promises-unkept-the-eu-us-data-privacy-framework-under-fire/

2025-11-28 16:49:55 GMT

European thinkers and policy makers are acting and talking as if the US federal government and courts are still "normal", or will soon be so again. They will not, and we should update our world view. Secondly, when we discuss data retention, we often do not specify that this could be a 24/7 location database of all EU phones and cars. If that is the goal, everyone should be super clear about that: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/hello-europe-joe-biden-is-gone/

2025-11-25 17:21:51 GMT

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Hi Patrick - Dutch Parliament just passed a motion demanding that the government change its position to "against" for that vote. Government almost always follows such motions. But not always!
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/611/484/352/661/329/original/60f341a7bb93f80e.png

2025-11-20 08:47:41 GMT

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as another way to look at it, this is maybe 10 kilos of hydrocarbons. And the car behind it has a tank of 35 kilos of them which it burns routinely.

2025-11-06 21:00:10 GMT

20th of November, 19:30, aula TU Delft, symposium "Security of Science". Talks by Major General Hanke Bruins Slot, also a former minister of the interior, and me. I promise you this will be worth your time! Nearly free tickets available through https://vvtp.nl/article/symposium-info1 - hope to see you there!
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/504/756/234/620/627/original/f101e170fa8a9127.png

2025-11-02 08:35:32 GMT

This Sunday I find the need to repost "Dear anonymous internet user asking for help". If you want help with the open source software I provide freely, and you are a giant corporation, do not hide behind a fake name or email address: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/anonymous-help/

2025-10-25 12:51:40 GMT

The Netherlands is heading to the polls (again), and there are over 1000 candidates to choose from! Here is what people receive at home to prepare. The original Reddit post notes "so nice of the municipality to send me a blanket now that it is getting colder!" https://www.reddit.com/r/thenetherlands/comments/1ofonph/wat_fijn_dat_de_gemeente_een_dekentje_opstuurt_nu/
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/434/886/678/726/434/original/a2cfabf206941b17.png

2025-10-23 18:50:12 GMT

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yes, thank you! With a bit of a close read this is rather alarming if you see what they are reporting "progress" on...

2025-10-23 18:43:08 GMT

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Maybe @npub1lcc…lcye knows? ^^^^ (thanks)

2025-10-23 18:31:05 GMT

I need some help. Some weeks ago, someone here mentioned a report on Microsoft Azure internal security practices, and that it was found these were very immature, with no network segmentation, badly enforced least privileges etc. But I can't find this report, does anyone recall it or have a link? Thanks!

2025-10-18 16:50:39 GMT

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the isle of man.. pages.

2025-10-17 21:21:58 GMT

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Indeed - and here's a not entirely unrelated take from yesterday. There is fascinating stuff happening in AI, but it is overshadowed by ridiculous attitudes both pro and contra, and any bubble collapsing has no bearing on that: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/an-ai-premortem/

2025-10-16 07:51:51 GMT

With the AI-bubble looking close to bursting, here I present a pre-mortem, in which I state that much of AI is simultaneously mega-impressive and still mostly useless. The collapse of the bubble does not mean the technology will go away, however. Also, there are extremely useful AI applications already that we should not lose sight of once we are post-collapse. Plus some thoughts on 'intelligence' & evolution:
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/an-ai-premortem/

2025-10-09 08:50:52 GMT

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is dit nou een foto vanuit de tram? Of sta je op een ladder ofzo?!

2025-10-09 08:29:03 GMT

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🫡

2025-10-05 09:15:02 GMT

Got two complaints yesterday about https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/what-the-open-world-must-do-better/ being too honest about what the open (source) world is messing up in trying to compete/replace big tech. But to make any progress we have to be honest to ourselves.

2025-09-27 09:07:03 GMT

Regarding my rant on those share.google links, they definitely are not there for your benefit. Every URL they make for you is unique, and you can be sure they use this for tracking. https://share.google/QORPsGkbhYKRBUhz1 and https://share.google/N9M35AUGzdVsPijVw both point at exactly the same page. And carry 100 bits of entropy. The redirect goes past www.google.com so they can hoover up your google cookies also...

2025-09-26 20:43:57 GMT

"To ensure sovereignty, OpenAI for Germany will be supported by SAP’s subsidiary Delos Cloud, running on Microsoft Azure technology." - that is not how any of this works, Germany! https://openai.com/global-affairs/openai-for-germany/

2025-09-19 21:48:15 GMT

Earlier this year I presented on "Small is beautiful: microstacks or megadependencies", https://webdevcon.nl/session/small-is-beautiful-microstacks-or-megadependencies/ - in which I talk about the state of web development, cloud, and the fun of building self contained highly efficient solutions.

2025-09-14 08:53:46 GMT

As #ChatControl marches on, we already know what the European Court of Human Rights has ruled in a similar case against RUSSIA: "The Court concludes that in the present case the [..] obligation to decrypt end-to-end encrypted communications risks amounting to a requirement that providers of such services weaken the encryption mechanism for all users; it is accordingly not proportionate to the legitimate aims pursued". Yet we continue to try just that... For shame. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-230854

2025-09-09 10:43:13 GMT

Just scrolling through https://cert.europa.eu/publications/security-advisories/2025 should make it clear to anyone that our software security situation is unsustainable.
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/173/920/365/953/479/original/cccfda9a574bb2e9.png

2025-09-08 18:55:31 GMT

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can't make it sadly, but do enjoy! I hope you make progress!

2025-09-06 08:46:18 GMT

Dutch public broadcaster NOS made a WONDERFUL 10 minute segment on the EU #ChatControl proposal. Perhaps you can coax YouTube to provide you with English subtitles, I think this video could help sway/inform other countries as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ek9R4TXq7U

2025-09-03 06:44:34 GMT

I am told this might include the Latombe judgement which could annul the privacy framework which allows European governments and companies to transfer privacy sensitive data to US companies.
From: @npub1ypk…kdd0
https://curia.social-network.europa.eu/@Curia/115127806163441282

2025-08-31 20:47:22 GMT

"They lost, but they lost loudly. Losing loudly has been a crucial feature of successful political movements." - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/opinion/gerrymandering-texas-newsom-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.iE8.Sppe.7kWlKutZJzpf&smid=url-share

2025-08-19 11:53:10 GMT

In hindsight this graph is even worse. The moment the Russian barbarians started their second assault on Ukraine, Europe immediately & sharply increased its purchases of Russian natural gas. We're still paying to be invaded!
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/055/283/858/056/759/original/6ce1601c654e9b60.png

2025-08-18 06:16:06 GMT

In breve, guidati dalla Danimarca, molti stati membri dell’UE sostengono la necessità di obbligare WhatsApp/Signal/ecc. a ispezionare tutte le nostre foto e i nostri link, utilizzando l’intelligenza artificiale (IA). Se l’IA ha qualche “dubbio” che si tratti di pedopornografia, la tua foto, posizione, numero di telefono e altri dettagli vengono segnalati a Europol e a una forza di polizia locale: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/chatcontrol-in-brief-it/

2025-08-17 16:40:23 GMT

En resumen: bajo el liderazgo de Dinamarca, muchos países de la Unión Europea quieren obligar a las compañías de mensajería como WhatsApp o Signal a inspeccionar todas nuestras fotos y enlaces con ayuda de inteligencia artificial (IA). Si la IA tiene la mínima duda de que pueda tratarse de material relacionado con abuso infantil, se enviarán a Europol y a la policía local tu foto, la ubicación, tu número de teléfono y otros datos personales. https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/chatcontrol-in-brief-es/

2025-08-17 15:56:07 GMT

In the context of the Chatcontrol attempt to get Americans to scan our photos with AI so we can be reported to Europol, the EU has even bigger plans in this direction. And they are honestly (I am told) asking for experts to advise them on these plans. You can apply until September 1st to be part of the expert group:
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/possible-end-to-end-to-end-come-help/

2025-08-17 15:22:20 GMT

En bref, sous l’impulsion du Danemark, de nombreux États membres de l’UE demandent que les messageries comme WhatsApp/Signal/etc. soient contraintes d’inspecter toutes nos photos et tous nos liens en utilisant de l’IA. Si l’IA a le moindre “doute” quant à la possibilité qu’il s’agisse de pédopornographie, votre photo, votre localisation, votre numéro de téléphone ainsi que d’autres détails sont signalés à Europol et aux forces de police locales. - https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/chatcontrol-francais/

2025-08-17 12:33:46 GMT

Many EU member states are arguing for forcing the American WhatsApp to inspect all our photos and links, using AI. If the AI is in any “doubt” if this might be child pornography, your photo, location, phone number & other details get reported to Europol and a local police force. This is a terrible plan: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/chatcontrol-in-brief/ #chatcontrol

2025-08-17 12:21:56 GMT

Die deutsche Regierung scheint ernsthaft darüber nachzudenken, das amerikanische WhatsApp zu zwingen, all unsere Fotos und Links mit KI zu durchsuchen. Dann werden wir bei Europol und der Polizei gemeldet, wenn die KI auch nur ansatzweise "denkt", dass es Kinderpornografie sein könnte. Sorry, aber das ist echt ein völlig irrer Plan: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/chatcontrol-kurz/

2025-08-13 12:17:09 GMT

I had a great time at the most excellent #why2025 camp! Here a write-up of my own #DNA talks (with links to video & annotated slides), some observations on the tremendously terrible state of security & regulation, and what we could do about it, plus some nice photos!
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/dna-talks-and-why2025/

2025-08-11 15:35:29 GMT

The awesome people of @npub1rsk…tsnt have released the recording of my Sunday #why2025 talk "Reverse Engineering Life: A teardown of the DNA source code of a whole bacterium"! https://media.ccc.de/v/why2025-34-reverse-engineering-life-a-teardown-of-the-dna-source-code-of-a-whole-bacterium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUUFQyq4F_o

2025-08-10 15:07:31 GMT

I am in this picture.. and I like it :-) #why2025
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/005/089/058/106/540/original/12f652a85bdb3371.png

2025-08-10 07:19:03 GMT

Thanks to the most awesome @npub1rsk…tsnt people the most excellent registration of my #why2025 talk yesterday is up already! DNA & Molecular Biology: A 2025 digital view has been released on media.ccc.de and YouTube #why2025 #Thesquarehole #Andromeda #why2025eng https://media.ccc.de/v/why2025-33-dna-molecular-biology-a-2025-digital-view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22lcbiXf9gc https://program.why2025.org/why2025/talk/GGDRKY/

2025-08-09 08:22:21 GMT

In 40 minutes at 11 AM Dutch time you can watch a presentation on the Cyber Resilience Act here: https://streaming.media.ccc.de/why2025/andromeda https://program.why2025.org/why2025/talk/RT9XQ9/ @npub1syt…d2pe

2025-08-04 09:47:55 GMT

Dutch government is attempting to recruit a new deputy CTO for the whole government. No requirement for specialist knowledge, only 3 years of IT experience requested. Does ask for 'management sensitivity'. And we wonder why our governments fail to control their IT environments: https://www.werkenvoornederland.nl/vacatures/plaatsvervangend-cto-rijk-coordinerend-beleidsmedewerker-s14-BZK-2025-0527

2025-07-28 15:15:23 GMT

Some people think the US spying programs are well regulated, and would not needlessly target Europeans who are not terrorists. I can recommend reading the linked article on how the US spies on *their own* people using section 702, *without warrants*. Think they'll protect us better?
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/resources/human-rights/2024-june/mass-surveillance-dangerous-american-communities-reforming-section-702/
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/931/526/303/741/940/original/e2159261fcd30539.png

2025-07-28 07:51:12 GMT

There is this world where people assume the US government would ask Europeans for permission to spy on them. "Dear Microsoft Luxembourg employee, please allow us to copy the Luxembourg government data". This is of course not how any of this works. Yet people & many journalists weirdly assume it does.

2025-07-28 07:31:57 GMT

Alarming as it is, the article below is still not alarming enough! Microsoft France here claims they've never seen a CLOUD ACT request for French government data. Perhaps true. However, under the FISA section 702 & EO 12333, Microsoft is still mandated to deliver such data to the NSA, and Europeans will never learn of that request. US spies do not need to ask Europeans for permission to spy on European governments! #sigint https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/25/microsoft_admits_it_cannot_guarantee/

2025-07-27 19:18:47 GMT

As we lost the great Tom Lehrer today, can every technologist please have (another) listen to https://youtu.be/QEJ9HrZq7Ro?list=RDQEJ9HrZq7Ro&t=16 "Once the rockets are up / who cares where they come down? / that's not my department / says Wernher von Braun"

2025-07-25 18:53:53 GMT

You get this notice when accessing the NCBI genome server. It always appeared needlessly scary to me, but this warning is starting to look ominous. Also, may have to learn to find the European equivalent server if we have one...
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/915/378/206/893/458/original/18621e58ead978bd.png

2025-07-24 14:19:48 GMT

The IT world has convinced us no new software can be deployed outside of US clouds. We're so sure about this that European governments (including the UK) are handing over vital government functions & data to US controlled servers. In this piece I argue that until recently we somehow could run stuff on locally owned hardware, and that we should urgently relearn that skill, while it is still possible - or end up as digital colony of the US: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/our-self-inflicted-cloud-crisis/

2025-07-13 18:54:56 GMT

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Or as I like to present it, we're somehow fine with this for running our whole society & governments:
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/847/439/115/661/325/original/5d93c5cafbb8dc0a.png

2025-07-13 11:45:43 GMT

"Three generations of Europeans have lived in a world in which they’ve been vassals of either the United States or the Soviet Union. That has taken a severe mental toll, and we can see it in our political leadership on this continent. Europeans have been dependent on the United States - militarily, economically and culturally - for so long that they’ve lost the ability to imagine a world that’s any different" - https://davekeating.substack.com/p/an-eight-point-plan-to-free-europe (can't vouch for the rest of the article yet)

2025-07-12 10:13:01 GMT

Europe appears to just have given up on doing anything technical. Perhaps we should hurry up & stop pretending we want to do anything ourselves, so we can speed up getting to our eventual destiny of a full time holiday destination for American, Chinese and Russian tourists. And mind you, that is the _best_ outcome I can see right now. https://therecord.media/spain-awards-contracts-huawei-intelligence-agency-wiretaps

2025-07-11 11:22:08 GMT

"It is very impressive. A whole generation has **forgotten** that you can run software on servers instead of on clouds. Even though this can be an order of magnitude cheaper." - https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/the-european-situation/

2025-07-06 10:57:19 GMT

From a presentation I'm preparing right now:
"European governments have mostly rejected having in house reality-based expertise" - am I wrong? Are there countries doing better? The impression I get is that governments prefer consultants they can ignore when they give unfavourable advice, or make sure they only get favorable advice. #mazzucato

2025-07-06 10:28:37 GMT

Things aren't looking well with the world, but treat yourself to this AWESOME list of accepted talks over at @npub1ux8…hm28 - just SO much goodness! (and two talks from me, which I will be doing my utmost to also make awesome). This will also be streamed live for the world: https://vote.why2025.org/why2025
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/805/813/206/428/221/original/7039136980ae4e96.png

2025-07-06 09:08:43 GMT

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in https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/on-climate-change-and-management/ here I describe climate as a 2d pendulum that is now swinging in all kinds of new modes, not necessarily compatible with our lifestyle. As a physicist, you might also appreciate this writeup, which is canonical science, but which you won't find in many other places: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/co2-global-warming-sensitivity/

2025-07-05 15:57:35 GMT

As a followup to my previous cloud pieces, which feature a coherent suggested policy to get to a European cloud, here in some detail the logical next step, which would be a "no regret win" for everyone. Uplift software to craft "European Cloud Modules" that could be used by lots of places to provide credible & rock solid IAM, S3, RDS, SQS and similar services: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/european-cloud-modules/?o=1

2025-07-05 11:53:12 GMT

Regarding previous post, retoots would be appreciated since as many people as possible need to hear about this expert group. I'm afraid that otherwise we'll end up with a committee that does not include all points of view! https://eupolicy.social/@bert_hubert/114800436278956988

2025-07-05 11:40:41 GMT

The attempts by law enforcement & governments to subvert end-to-end encryption are ongoing. The European Commission is going to spend a year thinking about their new "Roadmap for law enforcement access to data", and they are (genuinely) asking for people to join their expert group to help. Here I urge you to join that group (also because I can't): https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/possible-end-to-end-to-end-come-help/

2025-07-04 21:27:24 GMT

Yesterday Dutch parliament shamefully passed an extreme law criminalizing being undocumented, and also criminalizing aiding undocumented people. The Dutch national police has now released a statement that they can't support this. Most appreciated. https://www.politie.nl/nieuws/2025/juli/4/00-reactie-politie-op-instemming-tweede-kamer-met-anmw.html

2025-07-03 22:08:54 GMT

If you like that kind of thing, my presentation "Save the world, write more efficient code" from @npub16s9…t3ka is online now! https://youtu.be/XntLynSlYjI?t=203

2025-06-19 14:00:22 GMT

Some further thoughts on "the business idiot" theory. I was once told that the main weakness of engineers/technical people is that they want their work to be used (!!). Yes. But imagine how much time you'd have for politicking and positioning for power if you weren't "distracted" by doing actual useful stuff. I often wonder if this is behind technical people always losing out. Earlier relevant post: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/how-tech-loses-out/

2025-06-15 13:13:38 GMT

I'd love to provide you with this video directly, but it is worth clicking on the link: https://bsky.app/profile/teamcanadaforever.bsky.social/post/3lrmrzvumik2m BETTER WITH EVERY LOOP! At least up to 7 times, so far.
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/687/552/540/746/010/original/57b5ea3531e132c9.png

2025-06-15 11:24:00 GMT

Ed Zitron wrote a huge piece on how companies and governments are now being run by "business idiots". These function in a culture where form always wins out over substance. Of specific note in Ed's screed is the role of journalism & media: these go along with this narrative, praising bold but quite obviously inane statements by business idiots (who also work in politics and government). And this actively sustains the ongoing idiocy: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-era-of-the-business-idiot/

2025-06-03 07:51:26 GMT

For people finding out that the Dutch government coalition just fell, we have a thing called demissionary government where things just continue in a caretaker fashion. Since the current government was not actually achieving anything, we might not even notice.

2025-05-28 19:34:11 GMT

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Germany and The Netherlands also still have some unfinished business https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch-Niederl%C3%A4ndische_Grenzfrage ...

2025-05-28 12:03:00 GMT

#Galileo, the EU's own sovereign GPS, is relied upon by industry, every modern phone and every modern car. Yet earlier this month Galileo gave us an obscurely worded 5 day warning of a *test* that might take down the whole service. They also refused to clarify. Here I write on how during the test the satellites broadcast outdated data, and also urge the EU and EUSPA to take their users seriously. And not do such disruptive tests anymore please: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/galileos-testing-communications/

2025-05-16 20:15:48 GMT

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The part I love best is where they say "late 2030s at the earliest, but we can't really tell". "De TPR concludeert dat realisatie eind jaren ’30 op zijn vroegst haalbaar lijkt, maar nog steeds onzekerheden kent. (..) Het proces laat zich op de korte termijn (2-3 jaar) plannen, verder vooruitkijken is door die onzekerheden ingewikkeld."

2025-05-15 12:38:42 GMT

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And not only was this predictable it was predicted: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/you-can-no-longer-base-your-government-and-society-on-us-clouds/