Technology

Can EU please make an open source phone?

We have linux for computers, but we need a "linux" for phones (yes I know Android uses Linux Kernel, I'm talking about like a Libre Non-Google OS)

So how are American companies any different then Chinese? Everyone always says Chinese companies have to listen to their government. Never got how American companies would be any different.

It's SO funny how apparently for almost 20 years we (as in the west outside the USA) decided that using Chinese cloud platforms or networking hardware was dangerous and to be avoided, but private US companies? Nothing to see here!

Silver lining of the orange man is that maybe countries will wake up and smell the digital sovereignty that we sorely lack.

If the EU doesn't combine forces to get out of this tech-dependency, than what do we have the EU for? I am a big fan the EU, it's doing many things for us already, but I'm really hoping we can work our way out of this together, and I hope we choose the FOSS-route so that we significantly help the world forward

I have been saying this for more than a decade. Shit like this is why privacy laws and stuff regarding warrants and other stuff need to be expanded to private entities as much, if not more so, than government agencies. In the past the idea of a company having that much access to people's information was unthinkable, and in almost everyone's mind it was governments we needed to be worried about.

But that hasn't been true since the 90s at least with credit cards being used for most stuff and internet purchases being the norm for almost everything.

Governments in the past needed something to ask for permission to look into you... but companies never did, and since the only thing governments need to do is either buy it or ask nicely it makes many protections kinda moot. The fact that many countries want a strict surveillance state over everyone means even the classic protections we had for a brief while are disappearing, too.

If there ever is a 2nd enlightenment with protections for people it needs to make the stuff written in the 18th and 19th century look like children's toys in comparison.

If you say 'but what about terrorism and bad people?' Look around you. They still exist and still rarely get caught unless they fuck up badly. Most of the time it still due to informants and people talking to authorities. In the US the murder rate resolution is only 50% (and that is just arrested and charged, not convicted) and this is because there is a massive distrust of the police. In other countries people are more likely to assist the police and/or they take their jobs far more seriously in terms of forensics... and on top of that they usually have a far lower murder rate which allows more time and resources to be funneled into solving major crimes.

Better to let 100 guilty men go than 1 innocent person convicted is the usual motto, but they don't believe that in practice. In reality they are very much kill them all and let God sort out his own. And we can't keep allowing that shit to happen.

YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP, LETS GOOOOOOOO!

There's no telling if that hasn't already happened. Europe needs to drop Microsoft ASAP.

Anyone wonder where your country's health records about all their citizens are stored? I'm guessing it's all on either MS, AWS, or Google. That means Trump could get access to your medical history.

This is important because of his attacks on LGBTQ people, vaccines, abortion, autism, and who knows what other nonsense he wants to persecute.

And here in Canada the Liberal government is putting forth bill C-2, which opens up even more access to the US to get even records stored in Canada by Canadian companies.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/canadas-bill-c-2-opens-floodgates-us-surveillance

Feel safe yet?

just vassals lol

It's weird that this was something that Microsoft would have to admit, considering "The CLOUD Act" has made this mandatory for all US based companies anywhere they operate in the world. This has been a law since 2018.

Why are there no major competitors outside the USA? Is there no “Silicon Valley” in the EU?

I mean. They're a USA company. Of course they would be required to follow the laws of the country in which they HQ. Did anyone think anything different?

How much you wanna bet they already do and have been doing for years? They already spy on the rest of us, why is this any different?

I thought gdpr forced companies to store data securely in the eu. Are they saying they'll transfer that data to the us to give Trump access, cause that's a gdpr violation and should result in fines and eventual removal from the eu market.

lol any EU bureaucrat who thinks otherwise is either a useful idiot or themselves compromised?

Suprised Pikachu

So we all agree that "if demanded" ANYONE'S data can be spied on. Doesn't matter where.

At least it's finally admitted to out in the open.

Then those EU firms should immediately make getting out of anything and everything Microsoft a top priority. As a US citizen, all our government and companies understand is personal profit and personal data hording. So make it hurt where they will feel it.

Does this also mean Microsoft would allow China to spy on the US if asked?

Reference: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/07/microsoft-to-stop-using-china-based-teams-to-support-department-of-defense/

*shocked pikachu*