Digital sovereignty is widely discussed across Europe. But if you do not build the infrastructure on which the economy, security and public administration run, you eventually end up regulating infrastructure built by others.
OFFLINE is a factual, sharp and occasionally darkly funny book about a pattern that has shaped Europe for three decades: the Internet emerged from American research and defence logic. The Web was invented in Europe, but industrialised elsewhere. Cloud computing became global infrastructure in the United States. Artificial intelligence is now shaped by actors that control data centres, chips, models, platforms and capital at industrial scale. And in cybersecurity, many of the necessary architectural answers were known for years before they were widely enough implemented.
This book does not ask whether Europe has capable people, excellent research or important values. The answer is obvious: it does. It asks a more uncomfortable question: why did those capabilities so often fail to become platforms, infrastructure and operational strength at global scale?
Oliver Niehus writes from more than three decades of technological practice, from the modem era to the AI wave. He combines historical narrative, technical explanation, economic consequences and geopolitical stakes: from ARPANET and Strowger to cloud computing, GAIA-X, Zero Trust, lateral movement, AI, digital sovereignty and Europe's regulatory paradox, all the way to the question of whether there is still a way back.
OFFLINE is not an indictment of Europe. It is a warning written out of concern: for readers who want to understand why digital gaps do not disappear simply because you decide to run faster later.
Oliver Niehus
Oliver Niehus has worked in IT and the technology industry since the early 1990s. For more than twenty years, he has held a technical role at a leading global technology company. He writes from more than three decades of practical experience with operating systems, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. The views expressed in his books are his own.
digitale Souveränität europäische Technologiepolitik Cloud Computing GAIA-X künstliche Intelligenz Europa Cybersicherheit Zero Trust digitale Infrastruktur Innovationspolitik Regulierung