The hostage-taking of our education: Microsoft as an invisible schoolmaster
Anyone who walks around in a classroom today does not immediately see it, but feels it. Everywhere you look, Microsoft is in the works. Windows on...
Europe in digital chains: From naive control to shameless betrayal
Where the hell do I start? There's so much happening at the same time that I don't really know where to start. The European dream of freedom and transparency is about to collapse. While civilians...
Digital Sovereignty is a Lie We'd Like to Keep Believing in
⁇ Everyone wants it, nobody dares to do it Digital autonomy. Every policy paper, party program and strategic government document talks about it. Ministers call it in interviews. Members of Parliament ask questions about it....
Dodging Big Tech for 30 euros per month: That's how I built my own cloud empire.
Hills and valleys: I'll take you on my adventure to switch from Big Tech software to more reliable, European or open-source alternatives. I...
Freedom is a lie when only capital is free.
The illusion of freedom It sounds so good: Less government, more freedom. An old neoliberal mantra that is still eagerly repeated on drinks from real estate investors and in the LinkedIn posts...
Your Internet Service Provider Knows You're Watching Porn and Makes Money From It
Your browser does not lie, your DNS betrays you Most people think that the incognito mode in their browser protects them from viewers. But that is a persistent illusion. On the...
Wetransfer, Washington and We: Why Digital Sovereignty Is No Longer a Hobby Project
Sovereignty starts with discomfort I had promised myself (and my wife) not to write business blogs during my vacation. Still, I'm here. In the French sun, with a glass...
Building Europe Itself: From Key Figures to Key People
⁇ The urgency of today: Building Digital Sovereignty Thursday, June 5th, my alarm went off at 2:30. After only two hours of sleep, I got up, packed my suitcase, drank a...
Between storm and silence: Why I'm Hopeful Today
A particularly difficult season Sometimes it is as if life is piling up for a while. In recent months, my family and I have been confronted with no less than five personal dramas in...
Digital Sovereignty: A New Course for Municipalities. Are you reading Hardenberg?
The recent news that forty Dutch municipalities are launching their own sovereign cloud environment is an encouraging sign of progress. This initiative, which stems from the Open Web concept, offers municipalities...
It is political: Insights from the Nextcloud Enterprise Day 2025
Sometimes you visit an event that broadens your view of technology, data and society in one fell swoop. Yesterday was such a day. During the Nextcloud Enterprise...
From Latte to Leadership: My Day on the Nextcloud Enterprise Day in The Hague
Morning Silence and Outlook It's early. The city still breathes slowly awake while I drink my first latte of the day at Douwe Egberts in New Babylon. Outside is shimmering...
Hello Windows, hello freedom: Why I Switched to Linux
Hills and valleys: my Journey away from Big Tech I take you on my adventure to switch from Big Tech software to more reliable, European or open-source alternatives...
⁇ Time for Action: Europe, now or never
An ethical digital future begins today The letter from seven Dutch technology companies to the House of Representatives, shared via post on LinkedIN, is no ordinary lobby letter. It's a manifesto. Sendent,...
Data on the fence – how Europe is losing its digital wool
⁇ Our data, their business model Imagine a field. On the right: Europe, where exhausted citizens in frayed clothes try in vain to stop a flow of sheep. To the...
Playing with the future of European software
A playground for digital sovereignty Imagine a digital environment in which you are in control of your own data. No ads, no hidden trackers, no dependence on American...
English (UK)