this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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Given the rise of the boycott USA movement, the 800 billion โ‚ฌ for military that may not be spent but not on US arms and the dominating presence of US tech in the EU, how can citizens voice their concern? @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu and @EC_OSPO@ec.social-network.europa.eu are on the fediverse, but the just seem like mouth piece without ears.

What can citizens do? Has the ship sailed already?

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[โ€“] Jimius@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago

The added benefit is no reliance on foreign tech companies who will kow-tow to autocratic governments. Also since we can afford to develop open source software, it will also benefit poorer and developing countries. Which is a goal on it's own, but will also put the the EU in a good light elsewhere.

[โ€“] rippersnapper@lemm.ee 14 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

They need to get off Twitter. Go back to using the Press for official statements of high importance. And use Mastodon (Bluesky can interact with Mastodon instances in the future iirc) for rest. As a longer term project, move govt systems to Linux.

[โ€“] Jimius@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago

Anything server or database related is already on Linux. Managed by professionals. The problem are the desktops. Those still run windows, it's a walled garden. Government windows licenses are dirt-cheap. support is ubiquitous and almost everyone knows how to work with windows. The cost of switching is just too high.

[โ€“] odioLemmy@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago

In my university, computers in the public rooms all ran Mint, and we had a working self-hosted mail platform. Here comes Microsoft and in a few months all computers are replaced by Windows machines and the email platform runs on Outlook. My previous university also had the same approach: all Microsoft products. I'd really love to know all the details of those deals. I know they offer scholarships and fund development programs (in exchange they make students dependent / educated only on MS products), but I still feel its a loss of freedom for all our institutions.

[โ€“] masterspace@lemmy.ca 35 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (3 children)

Cory Doctorow is Canadian-British, and consequently he has been writing quite a bit lately about how IP law is largely a regulatory regime imposed on countries by the United States through free trade agreements since it predominantly benefits American corporations.

Basically, if America want to tear up trade agreements, that makes IP law an ideal target for asymmetric trade warfare through more progressive IP systems.

[โ€“] bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Sorry but - IP stands for... Internet protocol?

[โ€“] 123@feddit.org 7 points 6 hours ago

In this context my guess is intellectual property.

[โ€“] masterspace@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Sorry, I meant Intellectual Property, primarily around patents, copyright, interpretations of fair use, right to repair, etc.

[โ€“] atro_city@fedia.io 14 points 15 hours ago

Drug law is the same, unfortunately. Most drugs were outlawed because the US said it should be. It's about time we stopped listening to some of their dumb opinions.

[โ€“] Tomassci@sh.itjust.works 4 points 14 hours ago

that would be a good idea honestly.

[โ€“] albert180@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

You can write your MEP to not cut funding to their NGI (Next Generation Internet) Initiative which already has funded many Open-Source Projects from Wireguard to Pixelfed, or also currently an European Search Index

https://nlnet.nl/NGI0/

[โ€“] atro_city@fedia.io 7 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

You can write your MEP

How do I know who my MEP is? The dude/dudette who got the most votes in the municipality I'm registered in?

European Search Index

Last I checked (homepage) there's no mention of NGI at all.

[โ€“] albert180@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 hours ago

I guess it suffices to write your national party or even their European fraction, as voting happens over lists anyway.

And don't forget your national government, they can exert pressure over the European Commission too

[โ€“] Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 8 hours ago

How do I know who my MEP is?

This may help: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/home

[โ€“] albert180@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[โ€“] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks. I'm curious why @qwant@mastodon.social and @ecosia@mastodon.social aren't contributing to this and starting their own venture instead.

@openwebsearcheu@suma-ev.social is your search index the basis for a european search engine? And if so, how does one do so and why aren't Qwant and/or Ecosia not doing so?

[โ€“] albert180@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 6 hours ago

I guess because they want to make money of it, and don't publish their source code or algorithm?

[โ€“] 123@feddit.org 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They can, but in my opinion, the omnipresence of AI in the minds of the responsible officials must be put aside first.

I suggest joining or forming alliances and support the campaigns of experienced NGOs.

Edit: An example is Public Money, Public Code by the Free Software Foundation Europe.