European privacy regulator starts pilot using Nextcloud and LibreOffice

The European privacy regulator is starting a pilot to use open source software Nextcloud and LibreOffice Online. The EDPS will use the software to exchange files, send messages, work on documents and make video calls, among other things.

The software will be hosted by an EU-based cloud service provider and will be available to all EU institutions, bodies and agencies. That reports the European Data Protection Supervisor on Thursday. The software allows users of such European institutions to work in a ‘secure cloud environment’.

The regulator says it is starting the pilot for privacy reasons. For example, by using open source software via a European cloud provider, the privacy regulator wants to prevent data from being exchanged with countries outside the EU. In this way, the EDPS also maintains greater control over the processing of personal data.

The EDPS will evaluate in the coming months how these open source services can help European authorities in their work. The pilot is part of a broader initiative within the EU to use alternatives to large tech companies and services. The EDPS has already started a pilot with its own social networks, which were based on Mastodon and the YouTube alternative PeerTube.