4. Mitigating risks

This article explores the complexities of mitigating sovereignty risks in digital infrastructure, arguing that no architectural pattern or provider choice can fully eliminate such risks in a global economy. It shifts the question from avoiding sovereignty risk to shaping it into an acceptable form. Using Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace as examples, it examines trade-offs between using global providers with strong security but legal exposure versus moving to local or open-source alternatives that may lack comparable functionality and security. The article emphasizes that decisions must be workload-specific, weighing actual risks, likelihoods, and acceptable compromises.