Big Tech products like Whatsapp, Microsoft Office and the Apple iPhone have become essential to our daily lives, but as President Trump’s tantrums come and go, European reliance on American technology has come into focus.

Trade relationships, including supplies of fuel, food and information are all now subject to the whims of an increasingly erratic US President. As state surveillance increases on US citizens, Europeans have become more aware that the technology underpinning daily life is largely controlled by US companies.

Reports in relation to sanctions against UN Special Rapporteur on Gaza Francesca Albanese, who is Italian, or French ICC judge Nicolas Guillou, have been eye opening. Neither can access the most basic services including banking, credit cards and email.

European alternatives to Microsoft products are now being employed by the French Government following testimony from a Microsoft France executive who acknowledged that US law would take primacy over the GDPR and other European regulations, if challenged.

Today’s guest on the podcast is cybersecurity expert Brian Honan, who has been writing in the Irish Examiner about how we can move to secure our tech in the face of increasing tensions with the US.

Why a gradual move away from US tech is a good idea

Yanis Varoufakis: Europe should be convulsing at US sanctions against French ICC judge

Trump sanctions on International Criminal Court prosecutor halt tribunal’s work

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