The entire country has been clamouring for this for weeks, and the government has been completely silent about it. A couple of weeks ago, the entire parliament (with only a single party dissenting) voted for a motion to end the contract with Solvinity, but the government extended it anyway, leaving blocking the takeover as the only option, and there wasn't a lot of confidence that the government would do that.
The whole reason for this is that Solvinity host DigiD, the Dutch e-ID system that handles authentication to all government and many other sensitive systems (healthcare). With the US law that the US government should be able to get access to any data held by a US company, regardless of where it's hosted, this system clearly should be kept out of American hands.
Of course there's still plenty of sensitive data in the hands of Microsoft, Amazon and other US companies. No idea when they're going to do something about that.
> A couple of weeks ago, the entire parliament (with only a single party dissenting) voted for a motion to end the contract with Solvinity, but the government extended it anyway, leaving blocking the takeover as the only option,
Given what we know now, this seems perfectly logical. It's just that we don't know what else is going on behind the scenes.
I'm sure there was some negotiations on how to keep the data separate or something, with the threat of blocking it altogether as a final solution.
> which i'm sure the current administration would honour
It would've been the same administration as the one doing the negotiations, so I would assume yes.
> There should be grave consequences alone for the fact that the goverment acted against the parliament
In general I think there's a pretty good understanding between the legislative branch and the executive branch. The Netherlands has always had coalitions. Also, every single government will talk to the other parties.
I'm not sure what country you're referring to but the Netherlands has a properly functioning democracy. The only problem it has is splintering into too many small factions making coalitions super hard
Good for them, but I doubt this will be the last we hear about this especially with the current US government. ASML was only permitted to acquire US company Cymer (the actually valuable EUV light source technology) back in 2013 under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement.
The Netherlands blocking a US acquisition due to technology control concerns is sure to ruffle some feathers in Washington.
This is not some sort of company making unique tech, it's a company handling some of the most the vital infrastructure for our government, you can imagine the privacy concerns. Completely different case
In 2013, the same deal would likely have gone through. US-Dutch relations looked very different in 2013 under Obama than they look now under second-term Trump. Any reciprocity today based on things Obama did back then falls flat because we all know Trump opposes nearly everything Obama ever did
Great news. Would have been devastating to have such an integral part of our society at the whims of not just another nation, but an unstable and downright hostile one.
All governments are "doing something". It just isn't at all effective and mostly because they're unwilling to invest even marginal amounts.
Like in this case. The technology here utterly depends on Google Play Services on Android or App Attest on Apple (or "secure enclave"), and that is in fact eseentially the only functionality.
This could have been solved instead switching to a standard (switching to OATH, RFC 4226 and RFC 6238), thus killing the dependency on Google/Apple while still allowing those devices to work smoothly, but allowing, for example, a Linux implementation. Plenty of European companies provide implementations for this, some with and some without the dependency on Google/Apple attestation.
I can sign in to DigID without using my phone, except sometimes with an SMS verification code. (Of course they want to, and should, phase that out. Hopefully that won't be replaced by app store dependence.)
We're terrible at company and brand naming here in Europe. Just look at the "Wero" payment solution (formerly/currently iDeal). Like, who the hell came up with that stupid name?
The list of stupid European company names and product names are endless.
I find it okay'ish. At least it's unique. Say, as much as I like Mario Zechner (who doesn't like HNers anymore for whatever reason), naming your product "Pi" is just terribly bad.
Facebook was a good name (hate the company but the name was good). But "Meta" is just dumbfucktarded.
Wait... I've got an idea: I'm going to make a product and name it "Alt". Or "Control".
Really: there are a lot of totally unhelpful name that just confuses everybody, including search engines, humans, and LLMs but I don't think "Solvinity" is that bad.
I've always found Whatsapp a terrible name, but its so established now that 'apping' is understood. If you're big enough it seems that a bad name hardly hold you back.
Finally!
The entire country has been clamouring for this for weeks, and the government has been completely silent about it. A couple of weeks ago, the entire parliament (with only a single party dissenting) voted for a motion to end the contract with Solvinity, but the government extended it anyway, leaving blocking the takeover as the only option, and there wasn't a lot of confidence that the government would do that.
The whole reason for this is that Solvinity host DigiD, the Dutch e-ID system that handles authentication to all government and many other sensitive systems (healthcare). With the US law that the US government should be able to get access to any data held by a US company, regardless of where it's hosted, this system clearly should be kept out of American hands.
Of course there's still plenty of sensitive data in the hands of Microsoft, Amazon and other US companies. No idea when they're going to do something about that.
> A couple of weeks ago, the entire parliament (with only a single party dissenting) voted for a motion to end the contract with Solvinity, but the government extended it anyway, leaving blocking the takeover as the only option,
Given what we know now, this seems perfectly logical. It's just that we don't know what else is going on behind the scenes.
I'm sure there was some negotiations on how to keep the data separate or something, with the threat of blocking it altogether as a final solution.
But agreed, this is a good outcome
> I'm sure there was some negotiations
which i'm sure the current administration would honour
There should be grave consequences alone for the fact that the goverment acted against the parliament
> which i'm sure the current administration would honour
It would've been the same administration as the one doing the negotiations, so I would assume yes.
> There should be grave consequences alone for the fact that the goverment acted against the parliament
In general I think there's a pretty good understanding between the legislative branch and the executive branch. The Netherlands has always had coalitions. Also, every single government will talk to the other parties.
I'm not sure what country you're referring to but the Netherlands has a properly functioning democracy. The only problem it has is splintering into too many small factions making coalitions super hard
Good for them, but I doubt this will be the last we hear about this especially with the current US government. ASML was only permitted to acquire US company Cymer (the actually valuable EUV light source technology) back in 2013 under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement.
The Netherlands blocking a US acquisition due to technology control concerns is sure to ruffle some feathers in Washington.
This is not some sort of company making unique tech, it's a company handling some of the most the vital infrastructure for our government, you can imagine the privacy concerns. Completely different case
Sure, but the point is that it's tit-for-tat. This US administration is petty.
In 2013, the same deal would likely have gone through. US-Dutch relations looked very different in 2013 under Obama than they look now under second-term Trump. Any reciprocity today based on things Obama did back then falls flat because we all know Trump opposes nearly everything Obama ever did
Absolutely, no one would have batted an eyelid.
Great news. Would have been devastating to have such an integral part of our society at the whims of not just another nation, but an unstable and downright hostile one.
Never heard of 'Kyndryl' before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyndryl
> Officially formed in late 2021, Kyndryl was created from the spin-off of IBM's infrastructure services
> Kyndryl operated in 63 countries in November 2021
Good on the Dutch government for actually doing something.
All governments are "doing something". It just isn't at all effective and mostly because they're unwilling to invest even marginal amounts.
Like in this case. The technology here utterly depends on Google Play Services on Android or App Attest on Apple (or "secure enclave"), and that is in fact eseentially the only functionality.
This could have been solved instead switching to a standard (switching to OATH, RFC 4226 and RFC 6238), thus killing the dependency on Google/Apple while still allowing those devices to work smoothly, but allowing, for example, a Linux implementation. Plenty of European companies provide implementations for this, some with and some without the dependency on Google/Apple attestation.
I can sign in to DigID without using my phone, except sometimes with an SMS verification code. (Of course they want to, and should, phase that out. Hopefully that won't be replaced by app store dependence.)
Solvinity is a pretty terrible company name.
We're terrible at company and brand naming here in Europe. Just look at the "Wero" payment solution (formerly/currently iDeal). Like, who the hell came up with that stupid name?
The list of stupid European company names and product names are endless.
Solvinity = Solvent Divinity
> Solvinity is a pretty terrible company name.
I find it okay'ish. At least it's unique. Say, as much as I like Mario Zechner (who doesn't like HNers anymore for whatever reason), naming your product "Pi" is just terribly bad.
Facebook was a good name (hate the company but the name was good). But "Meta" is just dumbfucktarded.
Wait... I've got an idea: I'm going to make a product and name it "Alt". Or "Control".
Really: there are a lot of totally unhelpful name that just confuses everybody, including search engines, humans, and LLMs but I don't think "Solvinity" is that bad.
I've always found Whatsapp a terrible name, but its so established now that 'apping' is understood. If you're big enough it seems that a bad name hardly hold you back.
"US Takeover"
Best news of the year!
https://archive.ph/GbZhm