Finland and Europe must control their own digital infrastructure. That is why I founded the digital independence citizens' initiative, which collected the 50,000 signatures required for parliamentary review in July 2026. With it, we demand that Finland reduce its dependency on foreign digital service providers and strengthen digital sovereignty.
Finnish public administration is heavily dependent on large US cloud providers, so-called hyperscalers — for example Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Since 2022 it has become painfully clear that power politics in geopolitics is here to stay, including in the digital arena. Finnish and European alternatives exist: UpCloud is a concrete example of a high-performance domestic cloud provider that the public sector can use. I advocate for breaking up public IT procurement, preferring open source, and factoring in crisis resilience in procurement decisions.
Digital independence is also about data portability and avoiding lock-in to individual vendors. Public data generated with public money should be portable and stored in a way that outside parties cannot misuse it.
Start here
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Digital independence is a necessity
Finland's digital services depend on US platforms. As the US becomes unreliable, digital sovereignty is no longer optional — it is a necessity.
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Finland and Finns Risk Losing Control of Their Own Data – and It Will Cost Dearly
Voter data in Amazon's cloud, tax data with Microsoft. The CLOUD Act reaches data wherever it is stored, so Finland must decide on its own digital foundation.
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Digital independence is built one step at a time
Digital independence and resilience are built in every procurement decision. Helsinki chose Finnish UpCloud as the platform for its core public services system.
Related posts
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Digital independence: Finland's ability to choose
Digital independence is the ability to choose. My talk at Happy Hacking Day: where Finland and Europe stand now, and how procurement, standards and code help.
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Who owns public sector data?
Portability in public procurement decides who owns public sector data. eVaka shows that an open, shared model survives a change of supplier.
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Data Centres Can Be Finland's Ace in International Politics
A leaked US cable exposed lobbying against data sovereignty. Data centres can be Finland’s ace in international politics, if we build them on our own terms.
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Open Source Is the Cornerstone of Digital Independence
The EU tech sovereignty package names open source as the cornerstone of digital independence. Why a closed system is a risk and open source the fix.
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Airbus Chose Scaleway Partly Because of Jurisdiction
Airbus moved critical systems to Scaleway partly over jurisdiction. The same risk assessment applies to any cloud choice.
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Running for parliament in 2027: Finland needs digital independence in the age of AI
I am running as a Green candidate in Uusimaa for the 2027 parliamentary election. My goal is a digitally independent Finland in the age of AI.
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Digital independence: 5 + 1 choices for everyday life
Digital independence is built through everyday choices. Here are 5 + 1 concrete ways to strengthen it and digital security of supply yourself.
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Finland Can Turn Electrification Into a Competitive Edge
Caruna is changing owners, but regulation — not ownership — decides the power grid's future. Finland can turn electrification into a competitive edge.
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Council initiative: digital resilience
Kirkkonummi relies on digital systems for nearly all its operations. This initiative calls for mapping dependencies and switching to open file formats.
Frequently asked questions
What does digital independence mean?
It means that we control our society. For critical services, the decision-making power over service availability and access to information must remain in Finland. It does not mean isolation: Finland decides on its own digital infrastructure, just as it decides on its own defence. That way services stay up in good times and bad, and we have the power to decide where our data goes and who controls it.
Why is keeping data in Europe not enough?
Because what matters is not only where the servers are, but whose laws and oversight apply. The US CLOUD Act obliges American technology companies to hand over data in their possession to US authorities, regardless of where the servers physically sit. If a cloud service becomes unavailable, or trust in the accuracy of its data breaks down, the digital foundation of our society weakens, and we have no say in what happens.
Are European alternatives sufficient?
Yes, for most public sector needs, and they are often price-competitive as well. They sometimes offer a narrower range of features than the large American platforms, but in my work I have repeatedly seen the much-praised special features go unused. Migrating away from existing systems is expensive and should not be done hastily. New procurements, however, must be built correctly from the start.