Imagine if Berlin’s prosecutors could no longer access their email accounts from one day to the next. Information about upcoming court proceedings, colleagues’ emails, the calendar – all of that would be lost. The Berlin judiciary would probably only be able to function properly again if replacements were brought in and installed on all computers.

What sounds like an absurd scenario became reality for Karim Khan in February this year. Khan, then chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, lost access to his email account after Microsoft blocked his account under pressure from US President Donald Trump had blocked.

In Europe, the email blocking demonstrated how dependent people had become on US tech companies. Federal Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger then announced in Mayto build a “Germany stack” of our own software. Keyword: “Digital sovereignty“.

So far, however, sovereignty has not gone far – not even in Berlin. Research by Tagesspiegel shows that the Berlin administration continues to rely on IT infrastructure from third parties. And that won’t change in the foreseeable future.

Internal administration: “Libre Office” is installed on four computers

The Tagesspiegel asked all ten Senate administrations to what extent they use open source. This is software whose source code can be viewed from outside. It usually relies on open standards, which makes it easier to control and switch to another provider – which is why the federal IT officer explicitly recommends it for use in public administration is recommended.

The answers from the Berlin authorities are sobering. Upon request, the Senate Department of Justice and Consumer Protection will inform you that it does not use open source software for email traffic. The same applies to internal messenger services, such as those often used in companies and authorities, to office programs, e-files, data storage and the operating system. “In the Senate Department for Justice and Consumer Protection, no open source products are used in the areas mentioned,” writes the press office upon request.

In the other authorities the answer is usually similar. The Senate Department for Labor, Social Affairs, Equality, Integration, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination writes that they do not use appropriate software and do not plan to do so in the future. The Senate Department for the Interior and Sport points out that exactly four computers would use the open-source “Libre Office” – the rest would not. Some companies emphasize that at least their servers run the open-source and free Linux operating system.

There are also exceptions. According to its own information, the Senate Department of Finance actually uses open-source messengers and office programs. The Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises sends its emails using open source. The same applies to the school sector of the Senate Department for Youth, Education and Family.

In most cases, the question about open source is answered with no. Three Senate administrations do not want to provide any information for security reasons. This also applies to the public prosecutor’s office, which the Tagesspiegel also asked. “For IT security reasons, we cannot provide any information about the hardware and software used by law enforcement agencies,” said a press spokeswoman. Whether the Khan scenario would also be possible in Berlin remains an open question.

Dependence on US tech companies remains high

Overall, the answers paint a mixed picture. There can be no question of comprehensive independence in the IT infrastructure of the Berlin administration. It is also striking how different the facilities of the houses are – because not all of them rely on the expertise the country’s ailing IT service center (ITDZ)..

This fits with the interim balance provided by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). pulled last. “When it comes to digital sovereignty, i.e. the use of European or German manufacturers and service providers – also for satellites or AI applications – then you have to be honest,” said BSI President Claudia Plattner the German Press Agency in mid-August. Germany has technological dependencies in many places that can hardly be eliminated in the short term.

Bianca Kastl from the Hacker and Digital Association “Chaos Computer Club“sees this critically. She focuses on digital infrastructures in public administration. The dependence specifically on US services also has to do with convenience, she says.

The mail and office programs of the major US providers are closely interlinked. That makes the work easier – but makes the change all the more difficult. “Once you’re so deeply rooted in a provider, you can’t really get away from it,” Kastl told the Tagesspiegel.

Kastl also sees a problem for data protection here. US service providers are also subject to the so-called Cloud Act, which regulates US authorities’ access to data stored by US companies. “If an American secret service there comes up with the idea of ​​wanting to evaluate data, then Microsoft has to comply,” says Kastl.

Things work differently, as you can see in Schleswig-Holstein. According to State Digital Minister Dirk Schrödter, the administration will soon only be there rely on open source solutions. The State Chancellery is already using the open-source email protocol Open-Xchange. “LibreOffice”, which is intended to replace Microsoft’s Office programs such as Word or Excel, is now running on the computers of the ministries and the state administration. And instead of Windows, Linux will be installed as the operating system in the coming months.

Green digital politician Ziller calls for more speed

In Berlin, the responsible authorities have so far moved more slowly. After all, the Senate wants to deal with an open source strategy on Tuesday, as the Senate Chancellery – which is responsible for overall IT control – announced upon request. You are also there, to roll out a so-called “BerlinPC”.: A standardized workplace for administration that will rely heavily on open source software. The first tests were carried out with the “OpenDesk” platform last year.

© Vincent Villwock / Green Party Berlin

Green politician Stefan Ziller cannot explain why it has only been a matter of testing so far. The digital politician, who sits in the House of Representatives for the Greens, has been calling for an increase in the pace of switching to open source for years. “Berlin could make the Open Desk available to all authorities in a few weeks,” says Ziller. “But the current government is more or less ignoring the issue of open source.”