The IT Blog

Month: April 2026

  • Now on the Fediverse!

    I wrote a couple of times that I reduced my activity on and put more effort into the blog here – and I did! And I’m quite happy about that.

    In parallel I had an anonymous account for IT related topics, but honestly, I missed posting as my true identity. Also as I couldn’t link my LinkedIn-contacts to a fediverse identity (okay, as if they’d all just follow eagerly into the fedi …).

    Anyways! Last week I requested an account at Hachyderm.io and there I am now! I’ll be posting longer articles here and small ideas and thoughts etc on the fediverse. I’d be happy if you drop me a “hi” there as well :-)

    @fgraf@hachyderm.io

    Honestly, I was very very tempted to start a small selfhosted goToSocial instance. But I put that idea on th backlog for now. I don’t want too have too many open projects in parallel.

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  • How to Choose Your Level of Digital Sovereignty

    In the context of the (https://di.day), I noticed discussions on whether Tool A or Service B is “sovereign enough.” But – the more I thought about it, the clearer it became: Digital sovereignty isn’t binary. What works (or is acceptable) for one person or organization might not fit another.

    Over the past weeks, I’ve realized that these discussions often miss a key point: context. Not everyone aims for — or even needs — the same level of souvereignity. Some prioritize data privacy (Level 1), others focus on avoiding proprietary software (Level 6) or geopolitical risks (Level 10).

    So, before are arguing about the ‘right’ level, maybe we should first clarify what the ‘right’ level is for each of us. For some a higher level is a must, for others it’s just optional. And well – it might be okay to disagree.

    Below is a breakdown of 10 levels of digital sovereignty, from individual control to systemic independence. This isn’t meant to be a definitive guide — it is just my attempt to structure the problem. I also don’t claim it to be complete or universally applicable, but I found it intersting to think about the nuances. The layers are not always clearly separable and some companies & products can be found in multiple layers.

    Levels of Sovereignity

    The levels are structured from the most immediate and individual issues (data privacy, software choices) to systemic dependencies (infrastructure, hardware, geopolitics). It is a bottom-up approach to digital sovereignty, where early steps are more actionable for individuals / organizations, while later steps require larger-scale efforts or policy changes.

    LevelGoalNegative Examples
    1Avoid services that use data as currency.Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, …), TikTok, …
    2Control over internal data usage.Microsoft 365, Apple iCloud, GitHub Copilot, most Free Tier Services
    3Avoid dependence on tech giants.Google (Search, Youtube, ..), Microsoft (Windows/Office), Apple Ecosystem, Amazon
    4Reduce risks from SaaS/niche providers.Atlassian (Jira, Confluence), Slack, Google Analytics, Paypal, Adobe
    5Protection from government data access (e.g., CLOUD Act, FATCA, or other foreign laws).AWS (USA/CLOUD Act), Alibaba Cloud (China), Google Cloud (USA), Stripe (payments), …
    6Transparency and control over software (File formats, online registration, most SaaS solutions)Microsoft Office, Adobe Products, Windows 11, Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, …
    7Resilient, independent infrastructure.AWS, GCP, Azure, Cloudflare, Akamai, Alibaba.
    8Control over hardware and supply chain.Chipsets with closed-source firmware, Smartphones wihtout custom ROM support, …
    9Internal control over knowledge/processes.External IT providers, knowledge monopolies, missing redundancy.
    10Reduce geopolitical hardware risks. Only very few manufacturers for RAM, Storage, CPUs, GPUs, Risk of Oligopoly, Forced Obsolescence, Backdoors
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  • KI-Kataog.de An Independent Directory for AI Tools

    Finding the right AI tool can be overwhelming. With new solutions emerging constantly, it’s easy to get lost.

    KI-Katalog.de offers an alternative: an independent, German-focused directory that compares over 1,000 AI tools. Including pricing information and compatibility with the DSGVO / GDPR.

    https://ki-katalog.de

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  • Why Settle for One AI Assistant When You Can Have Two?

    Two weeks ago, I discovered that Mistral.ai also provides a coding assitant, similar to GitHub Copilot (GHC), called Mistral Vibe (GitHub page).

    In those two weeks I’ve been using Mistral Vibe in parallel to GHC. Just because I wanted to try and see the difference! And just after a couple of days I noticed that the agents definition in Mistral Vibe are a bit different from GHC (in hindsight: of course!). This, of course, leads to a dual configuration in my project so that both assitants can work properly.

    And just today I noticed that I’m doing commits for dual-Agent-Support … Hardly thinkable just half a year ago:

    - Add documentation references:
  * AGENTS.md: Add reference for AI coding assistants
  * README.md: Add reference in Further Reading section

- Enhance dual AI support:
  * Update AGENTS.md to reference both .github/skills/ (GitHub Copilot) and .vibe/skills/ (Mistral Vibe)
  * Clarify which skill directory each AI assistant should use

    So far I’m quite happy and impressed by the performance of the Coding assitants. However, it still makes sense to review the code every now and then. Even though the tools discover a lot of vulnerabilities themselfes which helpme to create a safer result, I had a couple of findinges myself the last days:

    For example: API Endpoints not being protected by login (well, I hadn’t instructed to do so), constructed URLs lacking Url-encoding, or Test being written but testing for an outcome that I didn’t want (e.g. I wanted a certain function to strip whitespaces, whereas the test assumed whitespaces should be retained).

    Anyways. My own commit about a multi-agent(vendor)-setup really showed me how much things have changed in the last months. And for sure, there’s more to come …

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