At the last NGI Forum, when asked what I would like to have next to address the threats of tech authoritarianism, I answered that the first thing I wanted was a European Commissioner in charge of Tech Sovereignty. Was this too harsh? 🧵
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Right lot's of people willing to work on this, motivation is there, work has started, but the questions is indeed how to synchronize and who has the overview. I do see cool initiatives burning up and that does seem like a (BIG) waste.
aug 26, 2025, 6:24 pm • 3 0 • view
@alexandrageese.bsky.social spotted the answer for us: right as Trump is (predictably) torpedoing the US/EU trade deal, we find @hennavirkkunen.bsky.social… celebrating International Dog Day — 🐶❤️ bsky.app/profile/alex...
aug 26, 2025, 4:35 pm • 8 0 • view
Now, hey, don't get me wrong: I like dogs. Dogs are rad. But the geopolitics are basically Weimar With Nukes openly pushing to make Europe a client state, a strategy of which tech infrastructure is a key driver. It's, like, bad. So could we have Dog Day, but also some tech sovereignty?
aug 26, 2025, 4:35 pm • 15 1 • view
I’ll expand on my comment from another thread about this photo: _what_ the commissioner posts absolutely sends the wrong message, but an even bigger problem from the tech sovereignty standpoint is _where_ she posts bsky.app/profile/jecz...
aug 26, 2025, 5:15 pm • 4 0 • view
Quite!
aug 26, 2025, 7:04 pm • 1 0 • view
What we have is: • Mostly toothless DMA enforcement on what matters most • No discernible strategy across most problems of digital infrastructure • Vague positions on AI that are mostly industry talking points • No strategy on tech power versus democratic resilience, just "innovation" blah Etc.…
aug 26, 2025, 4:35 pm • 12 2 • view
At the end of the day, I have no idea if Virkkunen is competent or not. What I *do* know is that tech sovereignty has been an EC priority since 2019 (see www.politico.com/news/2019/10...), that we're in the second half of 2025, and that if you judge on impact practically no work has been done.
aug 26, 2025, 4:35 pm • 17 4 • view
I would be less worried about inaction if there were at least observable attempts at fixing the problem, or even a clear recognition that it exists. But all we're getting is cute doggies and Directors congratulating themselves on achieving symbolic results with zero impact. bsky.app/profile/robi...
aug 26, 2025, 4:35 pm • 9 1 • view
Android stopping sideloading (for security) feels like going backwards (although I haven't looked if that happens in the EU or not yet)
aug 26, 2025, 4:49 pm • 2 0 • view
It definitely does!
aug 26, 2025, 6:03 pm • 2 0 • view
happens in the EU or feels like going backwards? security absolutely matters but it shouldn't only matter when it aligns with corporate interests and it's getting really hard to apply Hanlon (modified for resources vs incompetence) *at the corporate scale* even when it's r-Hanlon individually
aug 26, 2025, 8:03 pm • 1 0 • view
The latter!
aug 26, 2025, 8:34 pm • 1 0 • view
Why the inaction? There's demand for leadership from all sectors of society. It looks like a political slam dunk that's not happening because no one involved knows what needs to be done. Here's a short overview: www.politico.eu/article/digi...
aug 26, 2025, 4:35 pm • 11 2 • view
Action will have to be dramatic to be effective. The Commission freezes at the prospect of Trump tariffs in response to action. On trade it defers to the key member states. Add populist domestic voters hostile to digital regulation, and the Commission is facing complex politics.
aug 26, 2025, 6:28 pm • 2 0 • view
I think the politics can be sorted if they have even just a bit of vision. This has support from industry and CSOs and unions and academia and many citizens — and even some sovereignists. But they'll never get traction by waffling.
aug 26, 2025, 7:08 pm • 2 0 • view
Agree the problem is part a lack of vision. On that score Eurostack plans help, but is barebones and missing much. It does not take account of two major drivers of US digital power. Network effects/ economies of scale, capital markets and how they create an ecosystem. 1/
aug 27, 2025, 5:02 am • 2 0 • view
Eurostack talks about federation and open source a lot. Yes. It can play a role in parts of the stack (particularly back end). But centralised propriety European champions would most probably have to be part of the mix, also for capital markets to do their part. 2/
aug 27, 2025, 5:02 am • 0 0 • view
And here's a longer, if incomplete, take: berjon.com/digital-sove.... Not to mention the suite of Eurostack reports. As well as an *excellent* own-initiative report from ITRE specifically for the Commission to read. So… can we get this tech sovereignty thing finally started?
aug 26, 2025, 4:35 pm • 10 1 • view
Literally all she’s done is cancel the AI liability directive and regulation on standard essential patents that
aug 27, 2025, 4:36 pm • 2 0 • view
Whats the EU to do when member state govs are in disarray. And what are govs to do when the societies electing them are stupefied, ignorant, addicted, locked-in, sourly, misinformed about the tectonic changes taking place. Digital sovereignty as a top-down project is clearly not happening.
aug 26, 2025, 9:59 pm • 0 0 • view
I don't think that most of it needs to happen top-down, there's a lot of pent-up demand for action, a little bit of ambition expressed at the top as well as some convening could already go a long way!
aug 27, 2025, 7:27 am • 0 0 • view
The era is primed for digital disruption (see e.g. tiktok or bluesky) but its not happening (at least not the "good" type). Like you say, there is token ambition from the EU top for years already. Imho the most culpable segment of European society is the private sector. Totally missing in action.
aug 27, 2025, 7:47 am • 3 0 • view
You're not wrong, too much of the European private sector is telco like in its approach to business. Hopeless, zero vision. But there are many great SMEs that mostly need a way to coordinate change.
aug 27, 2025, 8:04 am • 1 0 • view
there is plenty of talent and money is famously rotting away (or worse, chasing the latest silicon valley abomination). The coordination bit is indeed the tough one. I imagine a game of Life where somehow a viable, self-sustaining pattern must be seeded in Europe's digital wasteland.
aug 27, 2025, 8:22 am • 1 0 • view
Exactly! My hope is that by repeating these things eventually something will coalesce…
aug 27, 2025, 10:15 am • 1 0 • view
A super idea. Let's make it happen. Meaning - let's campaign for that to happen. Ideally it would already exist. Next best thing is to make it exist. Soon.
aug 27, 2025, 3:09 pm • 1 0 • view
Infuriating that Europe wants to pull up the drawbridge on immigration - disrupting things for people like me in the blast radius - while they dogpic the #1 sovereignty threat to Europe. (It's not Russia you shit for brains bureaucrats, it's the people who make our guns while monopolizing our tech.)
aug 26, 2025, 4:54 pm • 1 0 • view
It’s not too much to ask.
aug 26, 2025, 4:54 pm • 3 0 • view