https://doismiu.blog/tags/europe/Recent content in Europe on doismiu - dispatches from the infernal archiveHugoen-usSun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://doismiu.blog/posts/europe-is-the-united-states-largest-subsidiary/Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://doismiu.blog/posts/europe-is-the-united-states-largest-subsidiary/<p>I&rsquo;m going to start this post differently. No elaborate metaphors, no Star Trek analogies, no code. Just a simple question that has been eating away at my brain since I moved to Europe:</p> <p><strong>Why the hell do I need an American account to download my own government&rsquo;s application?</strong></p> <p>Let me give you some context. I live in Italy. I pay taxes in Italy. I have an Italian fiscal code. And when I need to access the official Italian government app (or Post Office app) to check my tax situation, what do I do? I open the Google Play Store, an American store, with my data stored on American servers, subject to American legislation, to download an application from a European country&rsquo;s government.</p>