As a software developer, it’s part of Rui’s profession to consider not only data privacy, but data security as a whole - this is one of his major concerns. Like many of us, he used to rely on US Big Tech, but today this is no longer the case.

I used to trust US Big Tech for their incredible competency, that trust was recently replaced by fear.”

The final straw for him was when the US threatened to invade Greenland - within Europe, an event that also inspired the Go European Movement.

”I think that the moment when the trust completely burst into oblivion was when the US threatened to invade Greenland, a territory belonging to Denmark, an EU member state. There is no way anyone can reasonably continue referring to the US as an ally after that. Even if I still had any goodwill towards US Big Tech companies, the simple fact that they are ultimately subject to US jurisdiction makes them untrustworthy guardians of any data, much less private data.”

Another rapidly developing privacy threat Rui mentions is Big Tech’s drive towards AI - like Windows Recall. “It is a very hungry data monster and it does not care about privacy. A very visible side of this is, for instance, the push for Copilot and the Windows Recall fiasco. But the really chilling example has been how Palantir used health data to track migrants.”

While the events above were a turning point that changed how he approaches his digital personal and professional life - for example, actively choosing to adopt tech from the EU like Tuta - he also shares his appreciation for the EU’s GDPR and how now more than ever we need to become digitally sovereign within Europe.

Why we need digital sovereignty

For Rui, one thing is clear: “Data is and will be used against us”

At the very least, it already is, and will continue to be used in subversive efforts against us and our democracies. I am not saying, “might”. I am saying “is” and “will.”

Because of this, it’s time for us to really consider who we want to own our data, how they handle data, and where they are located. Rui now prioritizes choosing tools from within the EU, and when possible from Germany.

From a merely legal standpoint, I feel comfortable with tools from within any region in the EU. However, from a cultural viewpoint, I perceive Germany to have the strongest sensitivity to privacy, due to its history.”

At Tuta, we encourage others to take a similar approach if possible. If we as Europeans trust Big Techs from the US with our sensitive data, by default our data falls under US jurisdiction. Yes, Microsoft and Google are marketing “Sovereign Clouds”, but this is simply “sovereign washing”, and this was proven when Microsoft’s legal chief for France, M. Anton Carniaux, admitted he cannot guarantee that data of French citizens and businesses stored in Microsoft-owned datacenters - even if located in Europe - is safe from the U.S. silently accessing the data.

The switch to Tuta was quick

Rui started evaluating Tuta’s products in late January, and by the 3rd of February, he had configured two custom domains and was using Tuta Mail for business and personal communications.

As an experienced developer, looking for a private email solution based in the EU, better yet in Germany, choosing Tuta Mail was easy. For him, Tuta’s open source code, quantum-secure encryption, and no-ads policy were beneficial, but what sold him is that Tuta Mail offers better privacy than he would get when self-hosting - and without the complex setup.

I wanted an email service that offers me at least the same level of privacy comfort as I have when self-hosting my other services, which in the case of email would have been exceedingly difficult, if not completely unfeasible to accomplish while self-hosting”

In addition to this, Tuta Mail being built and hosted in Germany, the strong focus on its products, and company culture were other deciding factors he mentioned.

Day-to-day with Tuta

Rui also uses Tuta Calendar and Tuta Contacts, and was particularly impressed by how contact sync works on Android. Unlike most non-Google services (which rely on ActiveSync or CardDAV) in Tuta contacts sync directly to the device’s main directory.

I was very positively surprised by how Tuta implemented contact sync on Android. It is, maybe except from Gmail, by far the best contact sync experience I have ever had on Android.”

When it comes to his favorite thing about Tuta: It’s the security and privacy, which is backed up by Tuta’s open source code.

While there is an ethical side to the clients’ source code being open, it is mostly relevant from a security perspective. It is far easier for me to trust privacy-sensitive code when it is open source, especially when that code is also published on F-Droid, like Tuta’s apps are.”

For some, switching email providers can feel like a hassle that creates changes in workflow, but for Rui this didn’t turn out to be an issue. “While I was very happy with the work-flow enabled by the service that I was using before, I was even happier to be able to continue with the same work-flow but with privacy.”

Rui’s story is one we’re hearing more and more often: privacy-conscious users are starting to switch to European tech, and this is something positive. For us at Tuta, we appreciate hearing real stories and opinions from our users - it’s stories like this that remind us why we do what we do and allow us to continue developing our private and secure products.

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If you’re a Tuta user and would like to contribute to our series ‘Your voice, our drive’ do reach out to us on Mastodon or Bluesky. We’d love to hear from you!