The cow we should have tamed back in the 1940s
The Netherlands likes to feign surprise. We pretend that the nitrogen crisis fell from the sky in 2019, somewhere between a ruling by the Council of State and the first tractor convoy …
Microsoft and the medical professional secret …..
Microsoft, email and medical professional secrecy What you need to know about privacy and security June 2026 Contents Can Microsoft read your emails Does Microsoft really do that Recent incidents Medical professional secrecy …
Why does the (semi) government still opt for digital dependency?
The shock of a vacancy Sometimes you read something that makes you laugh awkwardly. A vacancy at a large hospital, for example, where it is fun to look for a BI developer who helps...
Water Board Vechtstroom learns nothing from Hardenberg
Our local authorities as digital satellite statesThe Water Board Vechtstroom does exactly the same as the municipality of Hardenberg: transfer our local government systems and data to a foreign power. It's like being consciously...
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....
I always thought it was abstract – until I saw what we really lost
The awareness suddenly came. And I'm still sick of it. I was working on something technical. A currency analysis. An invoice in USD, a few exchange rate differences. Routine. Until I...
Big Tech and the new feudalism: we are declared digitally obsolete
⁇ Secret infrastructures, open wounds On August 6, NRC published an article that reads like a dystopian paragraph from 1984: Israel turns out to be systematically listening to Palestinian phone calls and beating...
Melting walls and entrenched thought patterns
Complaining cellars, cooking kitchens I read this article this morning: ⁇ One in three Dutch people don't find home heat resistant enough (NU.nl) And as far as I'm concerned, that's the kind of head where...
Temu, tanks and disloyalty
Quiet for a moment, but not away It was quiet. Too quiet. Not because there was nothing to say, but because I had nothing to give. Personal storms, loss, frustration, mourning,...
Only on Signal: on principles, pain and digital boundaries
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...
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...
Digital sovereignty? Not in Hardenberg, apparently.
While Europe is looking at digital independence and more and more governments are reconsidering their trust in American tech giants, the municipality of Hardenberg is happily opting for a deeper...
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