Digital dumpster

“We missed each other”. The delivery note says ‘blue dumster',
handwritten with love and a spelling mistake.

I’m not sure what irritated me most. Was it the spelling mistake, or the fact that my parcel had been dumped in the blue trash can (intended for paper recycling)? Or was it the little heart the delivery person used to justify their action?

Look, when I order something, I want to receive it as quickly as possible. But I also want to actually receive it, and it should be intact. Those last two requirements don’t quite align with delivery into a garbage container. A lot can go wrong. I wouldn’t be surprised if gangs roam quiet neighborhoods in the afternoon, searching for parcels dumped in bins. A housemate who knows nothing about it might toss a fresh load of old paper into the blue bin without noticing the package. A thoughtful neighbor, who did remember that the bins are being emptied today, might kindly put your bin out on the street. And if the bin was already empty, you’ll have to dive in to retrieve that coveted parcel. So you understand, I don’t consider the bin a substitute mailbox.
Of course, I’ve addressed many delivery drivers about this. They politely apologize and promise to do better. If you complain to their employers, you get the expected response: shame on them, we’ll discuss it internally. But nothing ever changes. There’s too much time pressure on deliveries, and depending on the setup, drivers are paid per delivered item. Taking it back means no money for some. So it’s a pragmatic choice to leave the parcel somewhere. And the bin is still a relatively safe spot. I’ve seen cases where the parcel was simply left at the front door.
You can end up in a similar situation if you don’t know where your data is stored. If you use a recent version of Microsoft Office at home, Word, Excel, and the other programs prefer – by default – to save your files in the cloud. If you want to save them ‘locally’, you’ll have to make an effort. I bet many people don’t even know their files end up in the cloud, let alone what that means. If they did know, they might be shocked or outraged: “Why didn’t anyone tell me?!” In that sense, the cloud is a digital dumpster.
Do you lose files stored in the cloud? Probably not. But you might temporarily lose access due to a cloud service outage. You also hear the term ‘digital sovereignty’ more often. That refers to a country’s right to control its own data. I see a wave pattern: in the early days of the public cloud, we often said the cloud is just someone else’s computer – and surely you wouldn’t want to store your data there? When it became clear that major cloud providers had their affairs in perfect order, there was a rush to the cloud; it was the logical place to store everything with those American tech giants, our friends. In today’s geopolitical climate, we view that American hegemony with a healthy dose of skepticism.
What applies to your private situation also applies to the organization you work for. It too wants its data to be stored thoughtfully and securely. That means clear guidelines must exist about what can and cannot go into the cloud. For government organizations, this is not just a policy choice but also a political one. And ‘clear’ means the policy must be easy to implement. Long green and red lists won’t work. Technology comes to our aid with a CASB: a Cloud Access Security Broker. It automatically enforces company policy when using cloud applications, ensuring sensitive information is stored and shared only under safe and approved conditions.
But of course, technology isn’t flawless. So we need to look more closely at alternatives close to home, under our own sovereignty. Bert Hubert is someone who actively lobbies for this. He once proposed creating a kind of  ‘Cloud Kootwijk’. He’s referencing the radio station that the Netherlands established during colonial times to avoid relying on competing foreign countries for communication with the colonies: Radio Kootwijk. The impressive building, nicknamed The Cathedral, still stands. With some adjustments, it could house a national cloud. They should also try to make good arrangements with the parcel delivery services there.

And in the big bad world…

• a cloud outage can have far-reaching consequences. [DUTCH]
• the cloud also has many good sides.
• LinkedIn will train its AI with your data, unless you opt out.
• AI browsers bring privacy and security issues.
• organizations must consider how to manage AI agents.
• you could also hack Formula 1, of course.
• you should never blindly trust AI.
• Europol is taking a stand against caller-ID spoofing.
• this (long) article updates you on post-quantum cryptography.
• you’d better avoid the Universe Browser.
• chat control is off the table.