The International Criminal Court is ditching Microsoft software for an open source alternative

Date:
Fri, 31 Oct 2025 10:44:53 +0000

Description:
The ICC wants to become less dependent on US providers like Microsoft.

FULL STORY

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is looking to replace its internal
work environments to move away from US-made software in fear of retaliation from the US administration.

The Microsoft software currently used in the Hague-based ICC is likely to be replaced with Open Desk, a German collaboration software alternative which is open source , meaning developers have chosen to release the source code - opening it up to scrutiny and often meaning that bugs and vulnerabilities are picked up quickly by the community.

The move protects the ICC from further targeted sanctions by the US
government for transgressions against the United States and Israel - in which judges and prosecutors for the court have been threatened with travel bans
and asset freezes.

Kill switch

Early in 2025, Chief Prosecutor for the ICC Kamrin Khan, after being hit with sanctions from the Trump administration, was disconnected from his email service.

This action was thought to be from Microsoft supporting US sanctions -
although the firm denied this, with a spokesperson stating; at no point did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC.

This sparked fears that US tech firms could flip a kill switch and cut
digital services on orders of Trump - outlining the need to become less dependent on US technology, with firms like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon dominating Europes digital services and cloud markets.

Open Desk is created for public administrations by the German Centre for Digital Sovereignty of the Public Administration (Zendis) - a publicly owned company created with the aim of building sovereign digital infrastructure for EU states.

Efforts have been made to reduce EU reliance on the US not just for digital services, but for hyperscalers too - as Trumps increasingly hostile and unpredictable foreign policy leaves allies exposed and looking to develop
their own infrastructure.

Via Handelsblatt (translated online)

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-international-criminal-court-is-ditching-mic rosoft-software-for-an-open-source-alternative

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