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Dutch universities call for reduced dependence on Big Tech
Dutch universities are calling for greater digital autonomy as more research and educational data is stored in American clouds, posing risks to academic freedom, privacy and accessibility
Dutch universities have found themselves in the grip of American tech giants and are now urging their governing boards to chart a different course.
In an open letter, which has been signed by thousands of staff members, they call for significantly reduced dependence on Microsoft, Google and Amazon within three years.
“As universities, we should manage our own digital infrastructure,” said José van Dijck, a professor of media and digital society at Utrecht University and co-initiator of the campaign together with her colleague and public innovation academic Albert Meijer.
“We are the heart of innovation and expertise in the Netherlands. If we don’t maintain control over our digital systems, then who will?”
The call may sound radical, but Van Dijck qualified it: “This isn’t an action against Big Tech, but for digital autonomy. Given recent developments, universities must strive to keep their infrastructure in their own hands.
“When you become dependent on a commercial company, you lose the freedom to act autonomously in your research.”
Erosion of autonomy
The current situation didn’t develop overnight. “Ten years ago, we were still quite autonomous,” said Van Dijck. “Universities had their own facilities. Each university, for example, had its own computing centre. Fourteen universities, fourteen computing centres. At present, we have only one left.”
That single remaining facility is the Snellius supercomputer in Watergraafsmeer, Amsterdam, which, according to Van Dijck, is already “completely full”.
In 2019, the rectors of Dutch universities warned about digital vulnerabilities in the newspaper de Volkskrant, followed by an open letter from cyber security scientists in 2021. But between these two moments, the world changed dramatically due to Covid-19, which Van Dijck identifies as a turning point.
“The pandemic pushed us deep into the Big Tech trap,” Van Dijck said. “There was an acute need to switch to online education en masse. All universities had to arrange this at breakneck speed. This time pressure led us to rely heavily on Big Tech companies because they could provide ready-made solutions immediately.”
While universities – together with SURF, the ICT cooperative for education and research in the Netherlands – were still actively developing their own solutions before the pandemic, such as the Jitsi video conferencing service, the need for speed meant these in-house developments were put on hold.
“We simply didn’t have the time and resources to further develop our open source alternatives,” said Van Dijck.
Even SURF, which could have served as a buffer, was drawn into this development. The result was that universities became even more deeply entwined with the systems of large tech companies.
The result of this accelerated digitisation is that universities are now often completely dependent on a single supplier. “In Utrecht, we’ve almost become a Microsoft university,” said Van Dijck.
“All services are interconnected. Once you’re on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, you’re virtually forced to use their other services as well. This leads to a ‘vendor lock-in’ – we’re increasingly trapped in their ecosystem, with no possibility to switch.”
Urgent geopolitics
The situation is becoming ever more urgent due to geopolitical developments. The American Cloud Act gives the US government access to data stored on American clouds, even if physically hosted in Europe.
“With the previous administration, I think we still trusted that,” said Van Dijck, “but since Trump took office, it has become crystal clear that he has little respect for existing rules and laws.”
Van Dijck points to developments in the US, where universities are already under pressure. “In recent conversations with American colleagues, it’s become clear that Trump not only wants to influence university funding but also has a direct impact on what can be researched,” she warned.
“A climate is emerging where certain research areas are undesirable. Think of climate research, specific health research, and other topics that are now considered forbidden territory.”
The consequences could be directly felt in scientific practice. “Look at climate research,” said Van Dijck. “Scientists worldwide work on this and are strongly interdependent on each other’s data and insights. If American restrictions make certain information inaccessible, it undermines our entire research field. We simply cannot fully carry out our own work.”
The integration of AI technology into everyday software also reinforces dependency. Microsoft’s Co-Pilot and Google’s Gemini are becoming increasingly interwoven with the basic software that universities use.
“These AI tools give Big Tech companies even more influence over how we teach and conduct research,” said Van Dijck.
The biggest problem, according to her, is the lack of transparency: “These systems are partly fed with our data, while we gain no insight into how that data is used to train AI models.”
This touches on fundamental scientific principles. “There are serious questions about copyright, but also about accuracy, verifiability and replicability – core values in scientific research that are completely lacking in these AI models.”
Action plan
The academics are not advocating for a radical break with Big Tech, but rather for a pragmatic two-track policy. “We shouldn’t throw everything overboard, but we do need to step out of that vendor lock-in so that we regain real freedom of choice,” added Van Dijck.
In the letter, which was sent to all Dutch university boards, SURF, KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and NWO (Dutch Research Council), seven concrete steps are proposed:
- Inventory and safeguard existing autonomous services.
- Map critical vulnerabilities and develop exit strategies.
- Create secure storage havens for research data.
- Experiment with and strengthen open source alternatives.
- Prioritise open source learning environments in future contracts.
- Explore European collaboration opportunities via networks such as Géant.
- Develop independent identification methods via SURF Conext.
“We first need to identify which services can already be offered autonomously and secure and strengthen those,” said Van Dijck. “In addition, it’s essential to map our vulnerabilities and develop exit strategies and emergency scenarios for cloud services.”
In all these steps, one organisation is indispensable according to the initiators: SURF must play a key role by expanding existing services such as SURF Drive, SURF Conext and SURF File Sender and testing new open source alternatives.
“Open source solutions are essential for regaining our autonomy,” said Van Dijck. “They offer us transparency, control and the ability to adapt the software to our specific needs.”
SURF under pressure
SURF has always been a crucial buffer for Dutch universities against complete dependence on commercial services.
“SURF has developed various essential services, such as our own identification system via SURF Conext, tools for securely sharing large files, and access to supercomputing facilities,” said Van Dijck.
But even SURF has not proven immune to the Big Tech temptation: “They too have gradually outsourced more and more to Microsoft and Google, at the expense of developing and maintaining their own tools.”
With increasing concern, Van Dijck sees how these in-house services are being phased out: “When I now approach the service desk, I hear that SURF Drive is making way for OneDrive. This is alarming, because these in-house services form the backbone of our digital autonomy.”
The Dutch situation contrasts sharply with other European countries. “France and Germany have already invested much more consciously in digital sovereignty,” said Van Dijck.
“While the Netherlands placed most data in American clouds without many questions, French institutions have consistently maintained a more autonomous strategy. German universities have also invested more heavily in open source solutions.”
An example of this is Nextcloud, an open source alternative to commercial cloud storage, which has already been implemented by fifty German universities.
Maintaining expertise
The loss of autonomy harbours a hidden danger: the disappearance of crucial expertise. “When you give up control of your infrastructure, you also lose the knowledge to manage it,” warned Van Dijck. “Once you’ve outsourced everything, you can’t easily recover that expertise.”
This loss of knowledge is particularly problematic for knowledge institutions, according to Van Dijck: “Universities are breeding grounds for innovation. Digital infrastructure is not a peripheral facility but central to our teaching and research.”
The initial reactions from university administrators are hopeful. “Our executive board immediately shared our concerns and recognised the increased urgency,” said Van Dijck. Other universities have also responded positively to the call.
Much is at stake for the Dutch knowledge economy. “We have seen how quickly the geopolitical situation can change,” said Van Dijck. “The question is not whether we should strengthen our digital autonomy, but how quickly we can do it.”
Time is pressing for universities to take their digital fate back into their own hands – not against Big Tech, but for academic independence.
