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Is it that different? Being Australia in alliances like "Five Eyes" I don't think you can keep your stuff away from the US at least when using Fastmail.

If you want both US & EU away from your data, I suppose you will have to consider things like Yandex Mail, which comes with its own set of problems too, of course :)

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Fastmails servers are in the US IIRC.
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While I agree in principle, I have to remind you (and to myself) that Australia is part of the Five Eyes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes
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The problem is that, even if Fastmail are Australian, they host exclusively in the US. They state that sure, there is the possibility of interference at the data center level, but they rely on their anti-hacking measures to prevent unlawful access
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As EU citizen I at least got some influence into EU policy. A government far away doesn't even have to pretend to care about me.
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The EU has about 450 million citizens, which of course limits my direct vote. Downside of a democracy (EU is a complicated democracy, but still) is that a majority probably has other priorities than me.

However there are many ways to impact policy makers. From individual contact to impact on the public debate. Even a small post here may lead to people considering their vote or contacting a local or EU parliamentarian, which in sum pushes the needle. In the end they are receptive, as they need the votes by the people.

It's long and tedious and not all things go anywhere, but then again: I am just one in 450 millionand for most of those priority is to have a Job which pays the rent and food and thus I have to break it down to be relevant for them.

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The actual answer as to how much you influence policy is: none at all.

The European commission proposes laws. European commissioners are proposed through existing EU institutions. They are not voted in.

You vote for MEPs, who discuss laws, pass them, perhaps amending them. They do not propose them.

And by the way, this is not democracy, it is 'representative democracy' - you vote for one person to represent you and 100,000s of others for all the decisions an MEP makes over their 5 year term. They are not bound in any way to stick to their campaign promises.

Anyway, you might be happy or not about the laws these unelected bodies pass - I'm glad you seem happy about it. You might or might not see Europe as a triumph for its subjects. But there is no need to kid yourself or others that you have any impact over policy.

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The European commission are appointed by the Council of the EU which is composed by elected individual member countries' heads of government. Commissioners also need to be individually approved by the European Parliament which is directly elected.

Representative democracy is democracy. Basically all nation level democratic governments are representative democracies.

Being a cynic doesn't make you look clever.

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EU has citizens initiatives. Citizens can propose changes to the law and the parliament has to discuss it.

Stop Killing Games movement actually got a foothold.

EU as every healthy democracy has also non-elected experts (just like judiciary side) in its organs who can create law proposals. That's how we got USB-C and GDPR.

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I do think you're cynical and wrong if you think you can't influence any political decisions on the EU level.
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Have you made any policy changes? Do you know someone who has?
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Fastmail runs exclusively of AWS in the US.

I looked into this, there are lots of people in forums discussing/ asking for EU based servers.

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