Dutch universities have found themselves in the grip of American tech giants and are now urging their governing boards to chart a different course.
In an open letter, which has been signed by Thousands of Staff Members, they call for significantly reduced dependent
“As Universities, We should manage our own digital infrastructure,” said José van dijckA Professor of Media and Digital Society at Utrecht University and Co-Initiator of the Campaign Together with Her Colleague and Public Innovation Academic Albert Meijeer.
“We are the heart of innovation and expertise in the Netherlands. If we don't maintain control over our digital systems, then who will?”
The call may sound radical, but Van Dijck Qualified It: “This isn't an action against big tech, but for digital autonomy. Given Recent Developments, Universities Must Strive to Keeep Their Inn Own Hands.
“When you become dependent on a commercial company, you lose the freedom to act autonomously in your research.”
Erosion of Autonomy
The Current Situation Didn'T Develop Overnight. “Ten years ago, we are still quite autonomous,” said van dijck. “Universities had their own facilities.
That Single Remining Facility is the Snellius supercomputer In Watergraafsmeer, Amsterdam, which, according to van dijck, is alredy “Completely full”.
In 2019, The Rector of Dutch Universities Warned About Digital Vulnerabilites in the Newspaper de volkskrantFollowed by an open letter from Cyber Security Scientists in 2021. But Between these two mothers, the world changes dramatically due to duration to covid-19, which van dijck ideas as a Turning Point.
“The pandemic pushed us deep into the big tech trap,” van dijck said. “There was an out of switch to online education en masse. All universities had to arrank this at breakneck speed. Provide ready-made solutions immediatily. ”
While universities – Togeether with SurfThe ick cooperative for education and research in the Netherlands – Were Still Developing Their Own Solutions Before The Pandemic, Such as the Jitsi Video Conferencing Service, The Need for Speed Menting This in-House developments were put on hold.
“We Simply Didn'T Have the Time and Resources to Further Develop our open source alternatives,” said van dijck.
Even Surf, which could have served as a buffer, was drawn into this development. The result was that universities became even entwned with the systems of large tech companies.
The result of this accelerated digitization is that universities are now often complete dependent on a Single Supplier. “In utrecht, we've almost become a microsoft university,” said van dijck.
“All services are interconnected. Once you're on microsoft's azure cloud, you're virtually forced to use their other services as cell. This leads to a 'Venteor lock-in' Their ecosystem, with no possible to switch. ”
Urgent Geopolitics
The Situation is BComing Ever more Urgent due to geopolitical developments. The American cloud act gives the US government access to data stored on American clouds, even if physically hosted in europe.
“With the Previous Administration, I Think We Still Trusted that,” said van dijck, “but since trump trump time office, it has become crystal clear that he has live responsible
Van dijck points to developments in the us, where universities are already under pressure. “In recent conversions with American collegues, it's become clear
“A Climate is emerging where the citain research area is undesirable.
The Consequences Could Be Directly Felt in Scientific Practice. “Look at Climate Research,” said van dijck. “Scientists worldwide work on this and are strongly interdependent Field.
The Integration of Ai Technology INTO SOFTWARE ALSO REINFORECS Dependence. Microsoft's Co-Pilot and Google's Gemini Are Boxing Increasingly Interwoven with the Basic Software that Universities Use.
“These tools give big tech companies even more influence over how we teach and conduct research,” said van dijck.
The biggest problem, according to her, is the Lack of transparency: “These systems are partly fed with our data, while we gain no insight into how that is used to train ai models.”
This touches on Fundamental Scientific Principles. “There are serial questions about copyright, but also about accuracy, verifiability and replicity – core values in scientific research that are completes in these ai models.”
Action plan
The academics are not advocated for a radical break with big tech, but raather for a pragmatic two-track policy. “We should throw throw everything overboard, but we do need to step out of that vendor lock-in so that we regain real freedom of choice,” Added van dijck.
In the letter, which was sent to all dutch university boards, surf, Knaw (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and NWO (Dutch Research Council), Seven Concrete Steps Are Proposed:
- Inventory and safeguard existing autonomous services.
- Map critical vulnerability and develop exit strategies.
- Create Secure Storage Havens for Research data.
- Experiment with and Strengthen open source alternatives.
- Prioritise Open Source Learning Environments in Future Contracts.
- Explore european collaboration Opportunities Via Networks Such as Géant.
- Develop Independent Identification Methods Via Surf Conext.
“We first need to identify which services can alredy be offered autonomously and secure and strengthen theose,” Said van dijck. “In addition, it's essential to map our vulnerability and develop exit strategies and emergency Scenarios for cloud services.”
In all these steps, one organization is indispensable according to the initiaators: surf must play a key role by expanding existing services such as surf drive, surf conext and surf file sender and surf file Source alternatives.
“Open Source Solutions are essential for regaining our autonomy,” said van dijck. “They offer us transparency, control and the ability to adapt the software to our specific needs.”
Surf under pressure
Surf has Always been a Crucial Buffer for Dutch Universities Against Complete Dependence on Commercial Services.
“
But even surf has not proven immune to the big tech temptation: “They too have gradually outsourced more and more to Microsoft and Google, At the Expendency of Developing and Mainting Their owned tools.”
With increasing concern, van dijck sees how these in-House services are being phased out: “When I now I now approach the service desk, I hear that surf drive is making way for only. These in-House Services Form the backbone of our digital autonomy. ”
The Dutch Situation Contrasts Sharply With Other European Countries. “France and Germany have already invested much more conscious in digital sovereignty,” said van dijck.
While the Netherlands Placed Most Data in American Clouds without many questions, French Institutions have Consistently maintained a More Autonomous Strategy. In open source solutions. “
An example of this is nextCloud, an open source alternative to commercial cloud storage, which has alredy been implemented by Fify German Universities.
MainTaining Expertise
The loss of autonomy harbors a hidden Danger: the disappearance of Crucial Expertise. “When you give up control of your infrastructure, you also lose the knowledge to manage it,” Warned van dijck. “Once you've outsourced everything, you can'T Easily Recover That Expertise.”
This loss of knowledge is particularly problem for knowledge institutions, according to van dijck: “Universities are breeding are breaths for innovation. but center to our teaching and research. ”
The initial reactions from University Administrators are Hopeful. “Our Executive Board Immedited Our Concerns and Recognized The Increased Urgency,” said van dijck. Other Universities have also also responded positively to the call.
Much is at stake for the Dutch Knowledge Economy. “We have seen how quickly the geopolitical situation can change,” said van dijck. “The question is not whather we should strengthen our digital autonomy, but how quickly we can do it.”
Time is pressing for universities to take their digital fate back into their own hands – Not against big tech, but for academic independence.