Hi everyone,
The European Commission is currently seeking feedback on its European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy (Ares(2026)69111). This is a rare and critical opportunity for the open-source community to influence how the EU achieves digital sovereignty.
I have submitted an opinion paper to this Call for Evidence, which you can read here:
My Submission to the EU Commission (PDF Link)
In the paper, I argue that for the EU to achieve true technological sovereignty, it must address an institutional blind spot: the lack of support for individual FOSS developers.
Key points from my paper:
- Support Individual Developers, Not Just Startups: Real FOSS often begins with individuals or small groups, not commercial entities. Supporting “startups” often just fuels the next closed-source acquisition. We need direct support for maintainers.
- Fund the “Unsexy” Infrastructure: While high-level AI gets the headlines, we are losing ground on foundational security layers. We need robust, EU-supported FOSS firewalls, proxies, and IDS/IPS systems (like Suricata).
- Dismantle Proprietary Lock-in: We must challenge the ecosystems built by commercial juggernauts that force European professionals into proprietary certifications and closed-source dependencies.
This paper builds on the themes I discussed in my PreSuricon Webinar last September. In that talk, I asked a rhetorical question: “Is open source falling behind?” When it comes to deep inspection of encrypted traffic and middlebox security, we cannot afford to rely on closed-source solutions where we cannot verify what happens to our decrypted data.
How you can help:
I encourage all FOSS developers and Suricata users to contribute to this consultation. The EU needs to hear that open-source is not just about “innovation”—it’s about the long-term maintenance of our digital freedom.
- Deadline: February 3, 2026
- Participate here: EU “Have Your Say” Portal
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and discuss how we can better advocate for the “unsexy” but vital parts of our security stack.
Best,
Soner Tari
Developer of UTMFW and SSLproxy