Many Dutch companies are on a large scale on American cloud services such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Some northern entrepreneurs look at it with sadness. They are now working on their own cloud service.
Experts have been emphasizing for some time that it is a risk to be dependent on the American cloud as a Dutch company. Due to a law, the so -called Cloud Act, companies can be forced to hand over their data to the US government. There is also a chance that Dutch government services, companies and citizens are excluded from access to these services and their own data.
As a counterpart to the services of the American Big Tech A group of entrepreneurs in the Northern Netherlands has decided that there must be a own and independent cloud service: Cloud of the North. In a short time, around 150 parties joined the initiative. The entrepreneurs are busy now actually raising the service.
“We are in the start -up phase, there is not yet an actual cloud. But we notice that there is a lot of interest, also of governments and ministries,” says Hans Gankema from Peize, one of the kidelers of Cloud of the North. He works at the European Digital Innovation HUB Northern Netherlands, which advises and supports companies in the region with their digital ambitions or issues.
“Companies must realize that they will hand over control when they work with an American cloud service,” Gankema warns. “Not everyone is aware of, but the general terms and conditions include that they are allowed with your data. If you use such a service, you agree. And even worse: there are countless examples that you can no longer even with your data at all.”
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