From what I understand, everybody within the @EU_Commission was very happy and supportive of the #EUVoice experiment by @EDPS. Everybody within @EC_NGI is absolutely delighted with the work done by @NGIZero, yet, when EDPS asked what branch of the European Union would take charge of the #ActivityPub presence of the Union, everybody turned they heads away.
Yet, the #EU keeps spending tons of public money on X or Meta. This is #shameful.
Now, from May 18, 2024, we, European citizens, are left with no public access to European institutions, since all their communications will go through US-based private companies that the #EU fined repeatedly for breaking the European Law.
What kind of political power is that? Submitting #GDPR protected citizens to the global surveillance of NSA through USA's "National Security Exception to GDPR"?
On the one hand you're giving us, European citizens and free software developers, the task to build our own sovereign public digital infrastructure, and at the same time, on the other hand, you're spitting in our faces.
This is disgusting. You do not deserve us. We have to make it happen in spite of your ignorance and stupidity, this is what it is.
There was some hint (or maybe I misinterpreted) of some follow-up for the #EUVoice and #EUVideo pilot.
Nothing concrete mentioned and no further official announcement. Maybe @EDPS could provide more insight if this is indeed the case?
Meanwhile it is HIGHLY ironic that @vonderleyen is a #Xitter mirror operated by Federico Leva in Finland together with numerous other unofficial bridges. Frequently confused with official accounts.
@EDPS Dear EDPS and other responsible for this decision,
I will gladly manage Mastodon servers for you, moderate them and pay out of my own pocket for it. How many accounts do you have? 50 or so? No problem.
Please contact me and continue your presence on #fediverse.
Dissapearing from fediverse will send a strong negative signal, dismissing EU's digital soverignty. @EU_Commission @DigitalEU
Hi @po3mah! Thank you for the offer, and for being an active part of our community on the fediverse. Know that we intend to keep our account running, and are actively working on a solution.
Closing this down now does more harm than had this pilot never been started, as it suggests a Meta or X alternative is easier.
Setting up and maintaining a fediverse server is done by amateurs across the globe in their free time using Ko-fi pocket money. That's not easy, but the fediverse thrives regardless.
Keeping this up with the resources at the EU's disposal should be zero effort. "Not able to secure resources" can only be interpreted as a lack of trying
@EDPS WHY when it was successful, WHY??? And does it mean that The EU will also give up the EU-instance completely?
I hear NOW that these platforms existed ... perhaps your communication was not so successful?
Why before the elections? That's so dangerous.
And you want to give ressources and power to the big corporations that violate EU law so often???
> The EDPS will facilitate the required migration of EUIs who wish to keep their accounts active in the Fediverse
Do you need fediverse instance admins to volunteer their instances to host the migrating accounts? Do you already have adequate target instances for everyone?
@EDPS so this means you'll be working for commercial platforms that do not ensure privacy from now on... Probably it's time to defund you since you're clearly not fulfilling your purpose.
@EDPS you should reconsider. Having your own instance means we know these accounts are legit, and boost trust. If you crowdsource, I will even contribute. Cc @rysiek
@NatureMC@rysiek@EDPS of course money is not the problem. What we are doing here is participation, even collaboration with democratic European institutions. Which is the point of their social media presence. Hopefully someone in Comms at EDPS flags it to the higher ups. "People really appreciate us being here, just saying...". Will you do it, person running the account? It would be a way for the 100K citizens following @EU_Commission to feel closer to the EU institutions.
@alberto_cottica My "we do it" must come from inside the administration. I have already been involved in EU projects and unfortunately a lot of good things often die because of internal shifts in responsibilities or excessive bureaucracy.
I think it is extremely dangerous to give up just before the elections, when we know that a shift to the right could jeopardise the EU as a whole.
BTW, such important accounts are never run by one person but a professional team.
@helma@EDPS ...seriously, with all the money going around in the EU it can't fund the servers for EDPS ? Besides the fact that this funding would directly contribute to explicit EU goals with regard to digital/digitisation ? How can this happen ? 🤔 #EDPS#EU#fediverse#funding
@darnell@ErikJonker At least @EDPS will. I am not sure why as @EU_Commission has 100,000 followers. It must surely be able to keep informing us in a place they should embrace. They should all ditch the other privacy invasive not EU based alternatives. Practise what you preach and so forth.
@Mndell@helma@EDPS ...true, i would think so, it probably is just a bureaucratic fight with no institution/organisation willing to pay the bills, it's not that the money isn't there, they are just not able to allocate it... i actually have a lot of experience in these kind of processes within dutch government
@ErikJonker@Mndell@helma@EDPS To be fair, one could argue it's not the job of a data protection authority to run a platform such as this. After a successful pilot it should move to the Comms Department where it most likely belongs. #Fediverse
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