The Microsoft-Dilemma - Europe as a Software Colony (2018)

Film by Harald Schumann

“Many state and public administrations from Helsinki to Lisbon operate with the software of the US corporation. It makes them vulnerable for hackers and spies, violates European public procurement law, blocks technical progress and costs Europe dearly.”

“Martin Schallbruch, the former head of IT at the German Government, reports how the states are becoming increasingly dependent on Microsoft. A top Dutch lawyer describes how the EU Commission and governments are violating European procurement law. In France, the Ministry of Defence has bypassed parliament in concluding secret contracts with Microsoft, so Senator Joelie Garriaud-Maylam now wants to set up a committee of inquiry. The Hamburg data protection officer Johannes Caspar warns that the Microsoft systems could expose private data of citizens to investigation by the US secret services. Internal documents prove that the [German] Federal Office for Information Security [BSI] shares this mistrust.”

The Microsoft-Dilemma - Europe as a Software Colony (2018)

Film by Harald Schumann

“Both the European Parliament and the German Bundestag have therefore repeatedly called for state IT systems to be converted to open source software that can be tested by Europe’s own security authorities. Italy’s army has also begun this change, tells Italian general Camillo Sileo. The same is true for police authorities in France and Lithuania or the cities of Rome and Barcelona. But why do most governments oppose against the alternatives, or even - as in the case of the city of Munich - return into the arms of the monopolist Microsoft? Andrup Ansip, EU Commissioner for the Digital Single Market and other stakeholders face the questions.

EDPS Probe into Microsoft Online Service at the European Commission

“[T]he EDPS has found that the European Commission (Commission) has infringed several key data protection rules when using Microsoft 365. In its decision, the EDPS imposes corrective measures on the Commission.”

“The EDPS has therefore decided to order the Commission, effective on 9 December 2024, to suspend all data flows resulting from its use of Microsoft 365 to Microsoft and to its affiliates and sub-processors located in countries outside the EU/EEA not covered by an adequacy decision. The EDPS has also decided to order the Commission to bring the processing operations resulting from its use of Microsoft 365 into compliance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. The Commission must demonstrate compliance with both orders by 9 December 2024.”

– EDPS Pressrelease as of 11 March 2024

Also: EDPS Decision in full text, EDPS Press Release on Commission (December 2024)