- The ICC replaces Microsoft Office software with that of the German company openDesk
- This comes amid fears of US retaliation from the Trump administration.
- The EU and ICC fear that US technology could be hit by a “kill switch” through US foreign policy.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking to replace its internal work environments to move away from US-made software for fear of retaliation from the US administration.
The Microsoft software currently used at the Hague-based ICC is likely to be replaced by Open Desk, a German collaborative software alternative that is open source, meaning that developers have chosen to publish the source code, opening it up to scrutiny and often meaning that bugs and vulnerabilities are quickly detected by the community.
The measure protects the ICC from new targeted sanctions by the US government for “transgressions against the United States and Israel”, in which judges and prosecutors at the court have been threatened with travel bans and asset freezes.
off switch
In early 2025, ICC chief prosecutor Kamrin Khan, after receiving sanctions from the Trump administration, was disconnected from his email service.
This action was thought to be Microsoft supporting US sanctions, although the company denied this, with a spokesperson stating; “At no time did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC.”
This raised fears that American tech companies could flip a switch and cut off digital services on Trump’s orders, underscoring the need to become less dependent on American technology, with companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon dominating Europe’s digital services and cloud markets.
Open Desk is a creation for public administrations of the German Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (Zendis), a publicly owned company created with the aim of building a sovereign digital infrastructure for EU states.
Efforts have been made to reduce the EU’s dependence on the United States not only for digital services, but also for hyperscalers, as Trump’s increasingly hostile and unpredictable foreign policy leaves allies exposed and seeking to develop their own infrastructure.
Through Handelsblatt (translated online)
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
