EC users should be afraid of a US kill switch - not some new software

You'd swear from the over-the-top reactions that someone is threatening to take European Commission workers' dogs out back and shoot them.

Why the freakout? Because the EC is deploying a self-hosted alternative to Microsoft Teams to keep staff communicating if Microsoft's service becomes unavailable.

To be clear, the Commission isn't replacing Teams with Element Pro; it's setting up a backup.

That's it.

That's all.

But according to a Politico report, users are having fits.

Element is "absolute shit," rants one.

Another proclaims: "The US would 'instantly win the war' if it ever decided to switch off its technology." Uh, guy, that's exactly the point.

If US providers cut off European users, whether by choice or government order, many EU governments and companies would face serious disruption.

That's exactly why Europe needs an open source, sovereign backup.

That's the entire point of this exercise.

Take away all the hysteria, and you're left with a rather mundane business-continuity initiative.

Don't think for a minute that Trump wouldn't have a snit and order tech giants to block services to officials.

Just ask Kimberly Prost, a Canadian International Criminal Court judge, who, besides losing tech services, also lost her credit cards, access to Amazon and Google services.