- nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Re: [nexa] Europe's executives need to skill up to solve our total US cloud dependency

by Giacomo Tesio

Stefano, Stefano... davvero credi nella favoletta vaporosa del cloud "server-less"? Beh, non mi sorprende in effetti. ;-) Meta, Google & friends te ne hanno raccontate tante di favole sulla "AI" mentre dirigevi l'OSI e te le sei bevute tutte. Una più una meno... Comunque sì, anche il cloud non è altro che una rete di server con tanti dischi (e tanta ram, tanti processori, tante schede di rete, tanti software etc...). E ti dirò di più: non c'è nulla di magico in Google, AWS, Cloudflare o Azure! Nessuna fatina! Nessun folletto! Mi spiace per il bimbo che c'è in te, ma Babbo Natale non esiste. I regali che ricevi quando fai il bravo hanno altri mittenti. Il fatto che tu, come altri parimenti competenti, non possa concepire alternative alle BigTech non significa che non esistano. Alternative migliori nonché più efficienti ed ecomiche, perché progettate per esigenze concrete e specifiche, non ipotetiche e astratte. Un esempio fra tanti? <https://nextcloud.com/blog/ile-de-france-sovereign-cloud-collaboration-plat…> Giusto per non citare la solita analisi del Professor Enrico Venuto del Politecnico di Torino. Giacomo Il 12 Gennaio 2026 09:10:06 UTC, Stefano Maffulli <smaffulli(a)gmail.com> ha scritto: > On Mon, Jan 12, 2026 at 8:58 AM B. J. via nexa <nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it> > wrote: > > > *Fonte: *https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/ft-on-european-cloud/ > > > > Yet, many of the excellent employees of CCB (whom I encounter at > > conferences) would be able to do that after only a single visit to a local > > computer store. Their director apparently does not know this. > > > Ma veramente questo Hubert (che non conosco) pensa che AWS, Google ecc > siano dei server con tanti dischi?

Jan. 12, 2026

Re: [nexa] A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet

by Giuseppe Attardi

Nell’intervento Cory sostiene che paradossalmente, le azioni di Trump rendono possibile per l’EU di ripristinare una rete più libera e meno soggetta al dominio USA. Passionate talk by Cory Doctorow that invites all countries that were forced to accept laws that protect big US companies to rebel. Paradoxically, since Trump is imposing tariffs on other countries, it’s creating an opportunity for them to rebel: they may not fear retaliations, since the US is already retaliating. He makes a call for action by a coalition of people from many countries. Here is an action that EU could do immediately: “All the EU has to do is repeal Article 6 of the Copyright Directive, and, in so doing, strip Apple of the privilege of mobilizing the European justice system to shore up Apple's hundred billion dollar annual tax on the world's digital economy. The EU company that figures out how to reliably jailbreak iPhones will have customers all over the world, including in the USA, where Apple doesn't just use its veto over which apps you can run on your phone to suck 30% out of every dollar you spend, but where Apple also uses its control over the platform to strip out apps that protect Apple's customers from Trump's fascist takeover.” Come esempio di iniziativa europea in questa direzione, cita EuroStack, che può sembrare promettente, ma quanto a impatto pratico, temo sia piuttosto illusorio. — Beppe > On 12 Jan 2026, at 08:58, nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it wrote: > >> On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 07:52:54PM +0100, Enrico Nardelli wrote: >> Intervento di Cory Doctorow al 39-mo Chaos Communication Congress >> https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-a-post-american-enshittification-resistant-inte… > > Giusto ieri, sullo stesso tema, ma in formato op-ed, ho letto questo suo > sul Guardian: > > Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again > Cory Doctorow > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-en…

Jan. 12, 2026

Trump’s Air Strikes Targeted a Scientific Research Institute, Venezuela Says

by Daniela Tafani

Trump’s Air Strikes Targeted a Scientific Research Institute, Venezuela Says By Joe Wilkins Published Jan 8, 2026 As Venezuelans begin to pick up the rubble following massive air strikes by the United States over the weekend, the full scope of the destruction is slowly coming into focus. As Agence France-Presse reports, Venezuelan officials say the US air strikes that killed at least 56 soldiers also destroyed numerous non-military targets, including the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC). On Wednesday, the country’s science and technology minister Gabriela Jimenez shared footage of an obliterated building which she says housed the mathematics department at the IVIC. On top of this, Jimenez said that four other IVIC buildings were targeted for destruction: the physics, chemistry, ecology, and nuclear research centers. “Two missiles struck the area directly,” Jimenez wrote on Telegram referencing the mathematics center, per AFP which translated the comment. “The attack was total: these areas housed servers and equipment essential to our computer networks that were completely devastated.” The minister characterized the attacks as an “unprecedented act of imperial aggression.” Why the institute was targeted is unclear. The IVIC is located on the southwestern outskirts of Caracas, nearly 11 miles away from the Fuerte Tiuna, the military installation from which Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were kidnapped by US special forces on Saturday. In addition to the academic buildings, the governor of La Guaira, Jose Alejandro Teran, said the US air strikes destroyed a medicine warehouse located on the coastal city near Caracas. “Tons of medicine burned to ash, tons of food,” Teran said in a video posted on social media. “Here are the results of what the bombs and missiles of the United States government have done… to destroy our warehouses full of medicine and food.” Though Trump has emphasized the deaths of Venezuelan and Cuban soldiers, numerous civilians also lost their lives in the barrage. Those fatalities include 45-year old single mother Yohana Rodríguez Sierra, who was killed by a US missile. At least one of Sierra’s daughters was injured in the missile strike. At least 150 US war planes and drones took part in the devastation, which the Trump administration and American media have characterized as a “precision operation.” <https://futurism.com/future-society/trump-venezuela-research-institution>

Jan. 12, 2026

MEMENTO | 190° Mercoledì di Nexa | 14 gennaio 2026, ore 17.00

by Nexa - Media

Gentilissime, gentilissimi, Vi ricordiamo che mercoledì 14 gennaio, alle ore 17.00, si terrà il 190° Mercoledì di Nexa con un incontro dal titolo "Fine del diritto? La sostituzione tecnologica nell’era nuova". Ospite dell'incontro: Ugo Mattei (Università degli Studi di Torino). L'incontro si terrà IN PRESENZA e ONLINE. SEDE FISICA dell'incontro: Centro Nexa su Internet e Società, Politecnico di Torino, Via Boggio 65/a, Torino (1° piano). Per accedere alla sala si raccomanda di suonare al citofono Portineria e di seguire le indicazioni segnalate lungo il percorso. QUI<https://nexa.polito.it/contatti> maggiori informazioni su come raggiungerci. STANZA VIRTUALE dell'incontro: https://didattica.polito.it/VClass/NexaEvent Maggiori informazioni alla pagina: https://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi-190 Un saluto cordiale, -- Valeria Bergantino Communication Manager Nexa Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino - DAUIN Via Pier Carlo Boggio, 65/A - 10138 Torino web: https://nexa.polito.it/ mail: valeria.bergantino(a)polito.it<mailto:valeria.bergantino@polito.it> tel: 3473443585

Jan. 12, 2026

Re: [nexa] Europe's executives need to skill up to solve our total US cloud dependency

by Stefano Maffulli

On Mon, Jan 12, 2026 at 8:58 AM B. J. via nexa <nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it> wrote: > *Fonte: *https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/ft-on-european-cloud/ > > Yet, many of the excellent employees of CCB (whom I encounter at > conferences) would be able to do that after only a single visit to a local > computer store. Their director apparently does not know this. > Ma veramente questo Hubert (che non conosco) pensa che AWS, Google ecc siano dei server con tanti dischi?

Jan. 12, 2026

Re: [nexa] A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet

by Marco A. Calamari

On lun, 2026-01-12 at 09:47 +0100, Andrea Trentini wrote: > On 12/01/2026 08:06, Alberto Cammozzo via nexa wrote: > > Se servissero delle metriche per misurare lo stato di coma di > > internet, basta vedere il numero di > > RFC pubblicate per anno: > > https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfcs-per-year/ > > Siamo tornati al livello del 1994, praticamente prima del web. > > E stanno calando dal 2006. > > è un indice valido? > > non è detto che tutta l'attività ("innovativa" o meno) passi per le > RFC > > le nuove generazioni (e.g., i nostri studenti) manco sanno cosa > siano le RFC :( > > (cito spesso, per scherzo quella su "IP over avian carriers", mi > guardano come fossi un marziano) > (ovvio che è un campione ultra sottile il mio...) Il problema non è quello che non sappiano cosa è un RFC ed il ruolo che ha avuto. Il problema è il disinteresse verso la storia, ed anche il lasciarsi guardare come un marziano. Intendiamoci Andrea, non è una critica ad personam, assolutamente! E' solo che per l'appunto sono reduce da un ciclo di lezioni sulla privacy e sugli LLM in classi di quarta e quinta liceo, e mi sono potuto formare delle idee molto precise in merito. Il nocciolo delle ultime lezioni è stato proprio il non farsi guardare, fin da subito, come un marziano, ma come un vecchio capo indiano con una storia da raccontare; qualcosa di accettabile nel mainstream giovanile. Mi ha permesso di capovolgere la situazione. JM2C > > > -- > Andrea Trentini ⠠⠵ - http://atrent.it - public key ID: 0xA7A91E3B - > Dip.to di Informatica - > Università degli Studi di Milano > > Cittadinanza Digitale e Tecnocivismo - > https://www.ledizioni.it/prodotto/cittadinanza-digitale-tecnocivismo > - > https://edizionithemis.it/catalogo/digitale-e-societa/dal-tecnocivismo-alla… > > Sistemi Embedded - > https://www.ledizioni.it/prodotto/a-carraturo-a-trentini-sistemi-embedded-t… > > [se vedete un allegato OpenPGP_0x72C15962A7A91E3B.asc e non riuscite > ad aprirlo NON preoccupatevi, è > la mia firma digitale, alcuni programmi di posta elettronica > (outlook, gmail, ...) non sanno gestirla] >

Jan. 12, 2026

Re: [nexa] A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet

by Andrea Trentini

On 12/01/2026 08:06, Alberto Cammozzo via nexa wrote: > Se servissero delle metriche per misurare lo stato di coma di internet, basta vedere il numero di > RFC pubblicate per anno: > https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfcs-per-year/ > Siamo tornati al livello del 1994, praticamente prima del web. > E stanno calando dal 2006. è un indice valido? non è detto che tutta l'attività ("innovativa" o meno) passi per le RFC le nuove generazioni (e.g., i nostri studenti) manco sanno cosa siano le RFC :( (cito spesso, per scherzo quella su "IP over avian carriers", mi guardano come fossi un marziano) (ovvio che è un campione ultra sottile il mio...) -- Andrea Trentini ⠠⠵ - http://atrent.it - public key ID: 0xA7A91E3B - Dip.to di Informatica - Università degli Studi di Milano Cittadinanza Digitale e Tecnocivismo - https://www.ledizioni.it/prodotto/cittadinanza-digitale-tecnocivismo - https://edizionithemis.it/catalogo/digitale-e-societa/dal-tecnocivismo-alla… Sistemi Embedded - https://www.ledizioni.it/prodotto/a-carraturo-a-trentini-sistemi-embedded-t… [se vedete un allegato OpenPGP_0x72C15962A7A91E3B.asc e non riuscite ad aprirlo NON preoccupatevi, è la mia firma digitale, alcuni programmi di posta elettronica (outlook, gmail, ...) non sanno gestirla]

Jan. 12, 2026

Europe's executives need to skill up to solve our total US cloud dependency

by B. J.

Fonte: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/ft-on-european-cloud/ Contenuto: Europe is experiencing a crisis of digital autonomy. Our dependence on US big tech has been growing for decades and is now nearly total, at a time when worries about our former ally are no longer theoretical. Might we, like the [International Criminal Court in The Hague, find ourselves locked out of our own mailboxes](https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/31/international_criminal_co… if we say something that is [upsetting to the US government](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-threatens-new-icc-sanctions… > This post was written in response to [an article in the Financial Times](https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/fb9e9503-759d-…. Despite the [highly encouraging words on the FT website urging us to send in articles](https://www.ft.com/content/e3e8ff2b-95c7-48f8-9eda-312494422e10), this submission only received an automated reply. So then here in slightly adjusted form: Upper management of most governments and companies in Europe are fundamentally non-technical, and make IT policy decisions based on input from consultants and industry-provided and -infused professionals. And these are telling them that the three big US cloud providers (Amazon, Microsoft and Google) are the only game in town. This leads to curious statements like [recently in the FT](https://www.ft.com/content/854fcad0-0d39-438b-975b-adf9d8b89827) from the director of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) that it is “currently impossible to store data fully in Europe because US companies dominate digital infrastructure [..] If I want my information 100 per cent in the EU, keep on dreaming”. Yet, many of the excellent employees of CCB (whom I encounter at conferences) would be able to do that after only a single visit to a local computer store. Their director apparently does not know this. > The FT article otherwise makes some good points, by the way! If one has taken as an axiom that only the big three US cloud service providers can do computing, it easily follows that Europe plays no role anymore. Yet, this premise is not true - many large scale IT systems [do not in fact run on special US cloud services](https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/our-self-inflicted-cloud-crisis/). They run on local computers, computers that can be rented (or even bought) anywhere. Up until maybe five years ago, it was still highly controversial [to marry tax systems to proprietary foreign cloud services](https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/beware-cloud-is-part-of-the-software/), so we didn’t do it (back then). The director of the CCB is not alone in not realizing what is (im)possible. Recently the Dutch government decided to move all documents and email from the tax agency to the Microsoft cloud because [they saw no alternative](https://ioplus.nl/en/posts/dutch-tax-authorities-opt-for-microsoft-for-email-and-calendar-). They admitted that this means our tax operations [will now become vulnerable to sanctions, and that the US grants itself legal access to our data](https://berthub.eu/tkconv/document.html?nummer=2025D52688#:~:text=De%20drie%20genoemde%20wettelijke%20instrumenten%20maken%20het). Since Microsoft’s [July admission in the French senate](https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/our-self-inflicted-cloud-crisis/#:~:text=Microsoft%20has%20just%20admitted), we know that European data on Microsoft servers, even those physically in Europe, can be accessed by US agencies. Until quite recently, companies and governments were able to control their own data on local servers. The IT people that did that have not vanished, they and their skills are still around. Top leadership, lacking technical expertise, however has allowed itself to become fully indoctrinated that nothing other than US clouds is acceptable or even possible. When confronted with these unacceptable realities, decision makers will often say they’ll look into changing this situation once a European place delivers exactly the functionality currently procured from the US. This could be a long wait since it is not easy to recreate the American experience without any customers, who admit they are only going to engage once parity has been achieved. And likely not then either - companies also find it nearly impossible to switch between US cloud service providers! It is always a risk to get too deeply in bed with specific vendors, especially for unwieldy large systems. Luckily, it is also possible to base services on generic compute, storage and network capacity, something we have [amply available in Europe](https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/the-european-cloud-ladder/). Cloud-based experts may say this is hard, but I run a popular [parliamentary monitoring system entirely on a single non-cloud server](https://opentk.nl). It hosts all parliamentary documents since 2008. If I can do this, governments could relearn to do it as well. This would not only liberate us from US tech hegemony. Using non-proprietary technologies would also ensure we do not get tied to any specific proprietary cloud provider, which would then end up as a mandatory partner to run vital systems [for the next few decades](https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/beware-cloud-is-part-of-the-software/). To get any progress, two things are needed. Leadership within enterprise and government needs to skill up and grasp the digital realities, and not only parrot wisdom from a consulting industry that itself fully believes only in US clouds. And secondly, with that newfound understanding, large scale IT operators should reengage with the generic IT capabilities that do exist in Europe, and that until a few years ago were able to run things like our tax agencies. This is vital since if upper management continues to wait until Europe’s industry recreates the US offerings, while declaring nothing else is possble, Europe will indeed continue as a digital colony of the US. This at a time when the consequences of [accepting such utter dependence could be terrible](https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/cyber-security-pre-war-reality-check/). -- Inviato con l'email di [Proton Mail](https://pr.tn/ref/2P5MPTKZY2G0).

Jan. 12, 2026

Re: [nexa] A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet

by Alberto Cammozzo

Se servissero delle metriche per misurare lo stato di coma di internet, basta vedere il numero di RFC pubblicate per anno: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfcs-per-year/ Siamo tornati al livello del 1994, praticamente prima del web. E stanno calando dal 2006. Alberto On 11 January 2026 22:29:24 CET, Stefano Zacchiroli <zack(a)upsilon.cc> wrote: On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 07:52:54PM +0100, Enrico Nardelli wrote: Intervento di Cory Doctorow al 39-mo Chaos Communication Congress https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-a-post-american-enshittification-resistant-inte… Giusto ieri, sullo stesso tema, ma in formato op-ed, ho letto questo suo sul Guardian: Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again Cory Doctorow https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-en…

Jan. 12, 2026

Re: [nexa] A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet

by Stefano Zacchiroli

On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 07:52:54PM +0100, Enrico Nardelli wrote: > Intervento di Cory Doctorow al 39-mo Chaos Communication Congress > https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-a-post-american-enshittification-resistant-inte… Giusto ieri, sullo stesso tema, ma in formato op-ed, ho letto questo suo sul Guardian: Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again Cory Doctorow https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-en… -- Stefano Zacchiroli - https://upsilon.cc/zack Full professor of Computer Science, Polytechnic Institute of Paris Co-founder & CSO Software Heritage

Jan. 11, 2026