Excellent point, Ben, and most of the big players (who have datacenters in multiple countries), already have to deal with exactly this sort of thing. EU privacy laws expressly forbid certain geographic co-mingling.
The problem becomes more difficult when you have a cloud vendor which is providing its services by way of a larger player, and doesn't make any provisions for where the services will be hosted. -ASB: http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 1:27 PM, Ben Schorr <[email protected]> wrote: > We’ve written quite a bit on the subject of Cloud Computing and potential > issues on our blog: http://www.rolandschorr.com/blogs/index.php?blog=1 > > > > One of the big issues for me, that doesn’t seem to get much play, is the > issue of geolocation. When I control my data I control where on the planet > my data is stored. I currently have data centers in Honolulu and Los > Angeles. If I outsource my data storage to a Cloud provider how do I know > where my data is being stored? If it’s being stored in Iowa then I’m > probably o.k. with that. But what if it’s being stored in Thailand? > > > > Privacy laws vary greatly from country to country – here in the U.S. we > have the 4th Amendment that “protects” us against unreasonable search and > seizure. While there is a bit of debate about whether or not it protects > data “in the Cloud” at least it’s there. What does the 4th Amendment in > Malaysia protect against? If my data is being stored in China and the > Chinese government decides they want to read it…what’s my recourse? > Probably none. > > > > Storing any important data outside of the U.S. is a deal-breaker for me > with a Cloud vendor. Heck, I’m not **THAT** comfortable with storing it > on a multi-tenant server but at least if it’s on U.S. soil I can know which > laws I have to be aware of. > > > > Best wishes and aloha, > > > > Ben M. Schorr > Chief Executive Officer > ______________________________________________ > *Roland Schorr & Tower > *www.rolandschorr.com > [email protected] > > Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bschorr > > > > *From:* Alex Eckelberry [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:05 AM > > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Cloud computing... your opinions > > > > We're working on cloud computing initiatives (like everyone), and I'm also > doing a fair amount of research into the area. (Of course, the whole idea > of "cloud computing" is itself fairly silly, when it's just a renaming of > the concept of a network-connected computer. But whatever, it's the hot > topic.) > > > > There are areas where it makes sense, such as email filtering. Web > filtering, well maybe not so much. CRM (like SalesForce.com), makes sense. > > > > > I'm curious -- what are your thoughts on cloud computing? What might be > the security questions you would ask your cloud computing vendors? What > irks you about it? What is good about it? > > > > > > Alex > > > > Alex Eckelberry, CEO > Sunbelt Software > 33 N. Garden Avenue, Clearwater, FL 33755 p: 727-562-0101 x220 > e: [email protected] MSN: [email protected] > w: www.sunbeltsoftware.com b: www.sunbeltblog.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
