A few weeks ago, Google sent an email to everyone with a linked Google Analytics and Google Ads account. The message sounded reassuring: “we are simplifying controls and streamlining the consent process.” But anyone who reads past the surface sees something fundamentally different: one of the most concrete privacy controls advertisers had is being removed. And the debate that followed — ignited by former Google Analytics Product Manager Krista Seiden — points to something larger than a routine technical update.
On the surface, the Rijksoverheid’s new cloud agreement looks like an IT story. It isn’t. It’s about strategic sourcing, geopolitical risk — and why your analytics tool is a political choice.
Seven Dutch IT companies — including Centric, KPN, and Intermax — announced the Open Cloud Alliance: a federated approach to European cloud sovereignty that could change how governments and enterprises think about their digital infrastructure. I break down what they’re building, why the timing matters, and what I’m watching for as the initiative moves from announcement to implementation. Written from the perspective of someone who works with marketing data and web analytics professionally — and thinks about European digital sovereignty every day.
A new alliance of Dutch IT firms is betting that European digital sovereignty can move from political talking point to operational reality — starting with government procurement.
Leaflet.pub builds on the AT Protocol to give you something Substack never will: content you actually own. Here's what that means for European marketers.