DATA CENTERS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Data centers located in the European Union will soon have their environmental label. Similar to the one found on household appliances, it will include grades from A to G; The European Commission adopted on September 21, 2026, a common rating system for data centers in the EU. The European Parliament and the Council have two months to oppose it, but they cannot change it. So, if there’s no objection, it will come into effect.
In practice, no sanction will result from a bad note. The system will work as a comparison to better inform users (or those among them who care).
AI GOVERNANCE: AN INTERNATIONAL CALL
On September 21, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, 22 leaders from 20 countries and the European Commission called for much stronger oversight of advanced AI models. The countries that signed on include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Moldova, Norway, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, and Turkey. Their statement, called ‘A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models,’ specifically asks companies to subject their models to mandatory safety testing before deployment and to independent assessments.
The signatories are asking governments to develop common standards, improve transparency, and set up a system for sharing information about serious security incidents. Above all, they are inviting UN member states to ‘explore’ creating an international institution capable of setting standards, making sure they are followed, and bringing countries together when certain model capability thresholds are crossed.
As a matter of fact, neither China nor the USA, nor … France, are signatories.China and the USA are both engaged in a movement to set up their own AI governance (or control ?) system. France has already pushed the same idea, but seems hesitating where to play its part…partly also perhaps because some suspect the large US platforms to leverage legitimate fears to build barriers against new entrants as MISTRAL …
GOOGLE ONCE AGAIN FINED
The Irish Data Protection Authority slapped Google with a 403 million euro fine for GDPR violations related to its location services. This decision, which targets practices from 2018-2020, adds to a long string of legal actions. In this case, three features are targeted: ‘Web & App Activity,’ ‘Location History,’ and ‘Location Accuracy.’
IONOS AND SOFTEAM (DOCAPOSTE GROUP) PARTNERS
(TRIBUTE to L’INFORMATICIEN)
The German cloud infrastructure provider and the French Docaposte’s subsidiary have signed a partnership to offer a secure sovereign hybrid cloud solution. This offering is especially aimed at highly regulated sectors like the public sector, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI). This partnership helps enhance the new turnkey hybrid cloud solution developed by Softeam, which is based on Kubernetes. Softeam allows IT directors to get the best of both worlds: running their workloads on cutting-edge services while ensuring that their critical data is hosted and managed in a strictly European and independent environment. Compliant with GDPR, IONOS CLOUD hosts sensitive data on independent nodes in data centers under European jurisdiction, fully protected from extraterritorial laws and the risks of data transfer to third countries.
Additionally, in terms of security, IONOS CLOUD offers DDoS protection, 24/7 availability, and runs entirely on 100% renewable electricity.
