Post #1193840

2026-04-16 11:16 UTC

The little devil on my shoulder wants me to tell you about https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/copilot-flex-routing Apparently #Microsoft is not able to get enough compute within EU datacenters to handle #Copilot requests. Instead, it will do "Flex-Routing", which processes some requests in non-EU datacenters. This is Opt-Out. The only notification was an e-mail to Admins. If they missed that, companies might be leaking PII outside of the EU from tomorrow on. Get your GDPR Nightmare letters ready!

Replies (7)

@thunfisch@chaos.social 2026-04-16 11:18

This is a prime example, why "But we're using their EU datacenters!" is a weak argument when using services from US company. Things like AWS "sovereign EU cloud" are bullshit in a similar vein. Companies in a capitalist reality will keep doing what companiees in a capitalist reality have always done: Extract the maximum profit possible. It should be obvious that "dataprivacy" is not a term in that sentence.

Open ##1222351
@nitram2342@chaos.social 2026-04-16 12:24

@thunfisch "Flex routing is on by default for eligible tenants that were created after March 25, 2026. For eligible tenants that existed before March 25, 2026, please check the Message Center for more details on your tenant’s default flex routing setting." Splendid!

Open ##1222357
@mkornblum@hachyderm.io 2026-04-16 14:30

@thunfisch I thought GDPR applies whenever the data subject is a person based in the EU, regardless of whether the data processing is also happening in the EU or the US?

Open ##1222358
@Npars01@mstdn.social 2026-04-16 15:34

@thunfisch The "flex-routing" may not be to American data centers only. https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-google-hand-dissident-data-to-saudi-arabia-activists-say-2023-7 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/technology/amazon-google-persian-gulf-war.html https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/01/iran-irgc-nvidia-appple-attack-threat.html Reminder that the fossil fuel industry funds AI initiatives. They aspire to be the next Russian Internet Research Agency for the GOP. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-06/saudis-plan-100-billion-ai-powerhouse-to-rival-uae-s-tech-hub https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html https://gulfbusiness.com/en/2023/saudi-arabia/oracle-targets-training-50000-saudis-in-ai-latest-tech/

Open ##1222359
@lemgandi@mastodon.social 2026-04-16 16:55

@thunfisch Or just GTFO from vulnerabilities to US companies.

Open ##1222360
@mro@digitalcourage.social 2026-04-16 17:08

Hi @thunfisch, #peak #cyber. Now here be dragons.

Open ##1222361
@praecipitator@mastodon.social 2026-04-16 18:08

@thunfisch the actual bad news is that there are so many europeans to actually use this bullcrap

Open ##1222362