CSC’ nin Baskan Yardimcisi Siki Giunta’ nin 9 ongorusu Bulut Bilisim 2013 yilinda yine Bilisim Teknolojilerinin ana konusu olmayi surdurecek. Dunyanin en cok hayranlik duyulan 4. Buyuk Bilgi Teknolojisi sirketi CSC’ nin Bulut Bilisim ve Yazilim Hizmetleri Genel muduru ve Baskan Yardimcisi Siki Giunta, bulut bilisim alaninda 9 ongorusu var. Siki Giunta’ ya gore, teknolojideki ilerlemeler ve is hacmindaki yogunluk, Bilisim Teknolojileri endustrisini salt bulut yazilim uygulamalari icin varolan ve dogalari geregi mobilitesi olan kullanim araclarinin icinde oldugu birbirine baglanmis bulutlara dogru goturuyor. Siki Giunta’ nin 2013 yili icin bulut bilisimde gordugu gelisim ve degisim 9 ongoruden olusuyor: Guvenlik konusu Bulutta guvenlik konusu is cevrelerinde hala bir  endise konusu olmaya devam etmekle birlikte, bu konuda bir dengeye varildigi goruluyor. Her is buluta uygun degil, buluta uygun olanlar yaninda olmayanlar da var. Bu gercek sanal ozel bulut sistemlerinin hizli bir bicimde benimsenmesini getirmeli. Bu sistemler Bilisim Kurulu Baskanlarini daha buyuk kamu bulutlarinda ozel, izole edilmis alanlar ayirmaya goturuyor. Bu yaklasim, hemen hemen veri merkeziyle ayni duzeyde guvenlik sunarken Bilisim Kurulu Baskanlarinin harcamalari dusurmelerine yardimci oluyor. Finans hizmetleri Cok yakin donemlere kadar finans hizmetleri sektoru kamu bulutuna guvenmiyordu, onun yerine ozel bulut, yani sanallastirilmis veri merkezleri kurmayi seciyordu. Bununla birlikte ozel bulut sistemleri insasi hem pahaliydi, hem de yararlari cok azdi. Bu nedenle finans hizmetleri veren sirketlerin guvenilir hizmet saglayici sirketlerden secilmis Bilisim Teknoloji hizmeti almalari beklentisi var. Imalat sanayi Bulut, makinadan-makinaya iletisimde  buyuk bir platform. Ornegin Soda satan otomat makinasi artik kredi kartlarini buluttan guvenlikli bir bicimde kabul eden banka sistemleriyle iletisim kurabiliyor. Arabalar hareket halindeyken giderek artan bir bicimde bulut videolarini, yazilim uygulamalarini, surucu kilavuzlarini, guvenlik biligilerini ve daha bircogunu  buluttan cekebiliyor. Buluttan birbirine bagli evler yaslilara hizmet verirken, ayni zamanda enerji kullanimi azaltmaya yardimci oluyor. Makinadan-makinaya iletisim gelecegin Interneti haline geliyor. Kamu sektoru Bulut bilisim sayesinde, kisiler Bilisim teknolojisi servislerinden dogrudan yararlanabiliyor, bunun icin Bilisim Teknolojileri dairelerinden yardim almalari gerekmiyor. Shadow IT – Golge Bilisim Teknolojisi olarak bilinen bu gelisme, hem Bilisim Teknolojisi, hem de kamu sektoru orgutleri icin bir sorun. Bunu durumu bilen hukumet programlari artik bulut sozlesmeleri resmilestirmeye basladilar, bu nedenle Bilisim Teknolojileri hizmetlerini kisisel olarak siparis etmek icin bir neden kalmayacak. Ancak Golge Bilisim Servislerinin bir anda ortadan kaybolmasi da beklenemez. Isletme yazilim uygulamalari Bu yil otomatik uretim isleri-isletme icin yazilim uygulamalari topluca buluta kaydirilmalidir. Bulut uygulamalarini baslatmak icin giderek artan oranda otomatik sablonlar kullanilacak. Bu da sonuc olarak guvenli, olceklenebilir, otomatik ve kullanimi kolay, isletmeler icin uygun bulutlarin gelismesini tesvik edecek. Felaket yonetimi Gecen yil Amerika Birlesik Devletleri kasirgalar, kar firtinalari, kuraklik gibi felaketlerle  karsi karsikaya kaldi. Bununla birlikte cogu  bulut saglayici sirketler hala cok iyi olmayan felaket yonetim paketleri sunuyorlar. Bu degismelidir. Isletmeler bugun hemen ulasabilecekleri, surekliligi ve felaket kurtarmasi olan sistemler istiyorlar. Bu istekler daha da cogalacak ve bulut saglayicilarini bu sorunlara yanit vermeye zorlayacak. Mobil bilgisayarlar Mobil bilgisayarlar ve bulut birbirleri icin yaratilmis. 4G hizmetleri daha genis bir bicimde elde edilebilir olmaya baslayinca, cogalan veriler akilli telefonlara ve tabletlere aktikca ve onlardan geri dondukce, bulut kacinilmaz olacak. Mobil uygulamalar ve veri giderek artan bir bicimde  bulutta var olmaya baslayacak. Bulut komisyonculari Bu yil bulut komisyonculari ve sablon bazli hizmetler veren platformlar  hakkinda cok sey duyacagiz. Bu bulut komisyoncilarinin kullanicilari simdi artik yazilim, altyapi ve diger platformlari – ve bunlarin tumunu hizmet olarak alabilecekler, Bununla birlikte su anda  bulut-komisyoncusu hala tam tanimlanmis degil. Bu degisecek. Gercekte bulut komisyoncularinin  bulutun bilisimin gelecek nesilleri oldugina inaniyoruz. Asya Pazari Cin pazarinda bulut hizmetleri  ilk kez olarak bu yil $100 milyon dolari asacak.  Bulut pazari daha cok yatirim ve bolunmeye sahne olacak. Asya’ nin Malesya ve Endonesya gibi diger bolgeleri de  bulut icin olgunlasmis durumda. Bu ulkelerde teknolojinin onune atlama gibi bir gelenek vardir. Ornegin Bati ulkeleri once Mainframe sonra mini bilgisayarlar ve dizustu bilgisayarlarina dogru evrilirken, cogu Asya ulkesi dogrudan Mainframeden Web-Ag teknolojilerine gecti. Simdi bu ulkeler, cogunlukla sanallasmayi atlayarak dogrudan buluta yoneliyorlar.

Cloud and proud > Read More  The cloud will continue to be at the centre of IT conversations in the year ahead as the technology moves beyond just hosting. As Siki Giunta, VP and General Manager of Cloud Computing and Software Services at CSC, explains in a short video of her top five tips for the cloud in 2013, attitudes are changing. Technology advances and increases  in work loads are moving the IT industry towards interconnected clouds in which tools are, what she calls, 'pure, born-for-the-cloud applications which have mobility in their nature'. Below, in more detail, are nine predictions for how the cloud will develop and change in 2013: Security: The conversation matures. While the business continues to worry about security and compliance in the cloud, the security trade-offs are now better understood. Some workloads are appropriate for the cloud; others are not. One result of this should be a rapid adoption of virtual private clouds. These systems let CIOs provision private, isolated sections of larger public clouds. This approach helps CIOs lower costs while offering security at nearly data centre levels. Financial services: Accepting the cloud. Until very recently, the financial services industry distrusted the public cloud and instead chose to build private clouds, essentially virtualised data centres. However, building private clouds has proven expensive, with few benefits to show. As a result, we expect  financial services companies to begin engaging trusted service providers to offer  selected IT services. Manufacturing: Machine-to-machine. The cloud is a great platform for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. A soda-vending machine can now communicate with banking systems, via the cloud, to securely accept credit cards. Automobiles will increasingly stream over the cloud videos, applications, driver manuals, security information and more. Houses connected by the cloud could assist  the elderly while also helping all of us reduce energy use. M2M is the Internet of the future. Public sector: "Shadow IT" hangs around. Thanks to the cloud, individuals can order IT services directly, without having to go through their IT departments.  Known as Shadow IT, this development may be empowering for individuals, but it's a problem for both IT and public sector organisations. Fortunately, government programmes are now formalising cloud contracts, and eventually, there should be no need for individual workers to order IT services directly. But Shadow IT will not disappear overnight. Enterprise applications: Get on board. This year, automated production workloads – enterprise-class applications – should move to the cloud en masse. Increasingly, automated templates will be used to initiate applications in the cloud. This, in turn, should spur the development of enterprise-class clouds that are secure, scalable, automated and easy to use. Disaster recovery: From "nice-to-have" to vital. Last year the United States saw devastating hurricanes, blizzards and droughts. Yet many cloud vendors still offer disaster-recovery services that are less than top-notch. This must change. Enterprises today demand instant availability, continuity and recovery. These demands will only intensify, placing cloud providers under severe pressure to respond. Mobile computing: Love the cloud. Mobile computing and the cloud were made for each other. As 4G service becomes more  widely available, and as the quantity of data that flows in and out of our smartphones and computing tablets grows exponentially, the cloud becomes indispensible. Mobile apps and data will increasingly live in the cloud. Cloud brokers: Gaining prominence. Expect to hear a lot this year about cloud brokers, community platforms that offer template-based services. Users of these cloud brokers can now buy software, infrastructure or other platforms – all as a service. For now, however, the cloud-broker market is still somewhat vaguely defined. That will change.  In fact, we believe cloud brokers  represent cloud computing's next generation. Asia: Leapfrogging to the cloud. China's market for cloud services will likely exceed $100 million for the first time this year. That will set the stage for even more investment and segmentation. Other areas of Asia – notably  Malaysia and Indonesia – are ripe  for the cloud, too. These countries have  a tradition of leapfrogging technologies. For example, while the West transitioned from the mainframe to the minicomputer to the PC, much of Asia jumped directly from mainframes to the Web. Now these countries are mostly skipping virtualisation and heading directly to the cloud.

AMAZON sirketinin bulut veri ambari REDSHIFT hizmete acildi. Amazon Web Hizmetleri’ nin bulut bazli veri ambari Redshift tum kullanicilarin hizmetine acildi. Redshift veri ambari isletme bazli veri ambari uygulamalarina dusuk maliyetli bir alternatif olarak sunuluyor. Redshift su anda  Amazon’ un Amerika Birlesik Devletleri Dogu bolgesi (Kuzey Virjinya) veri merkezinde bulunuyor. Ancak gelecek aylarda Amazon’ un diger veri merkezlerinde de yer alacak. Amazon sirketi’ nin diger bulut servislerinde oldugu gibi veri ambari uygulamasi Redshift’in de sirketleri cezbetmesi bekleniyor. Amazon Web Hizmetleri’ nden Andy Jassy’ nin aciklamasina gore, Redshift geleneksel veri ambari uygulamalarindandan cok daha ucuz maliyetli ve ayni zamanda da kurulum ve yonetimi cok daha kolay bir sistem. Redshift’ in kullanim fiyatlandirmasi XL modulu icin saatte 0.85 dolar, 8XL modulu icin 6.80 dolar. Redshift’ in cok guvenli bir sistem oldugu, veri kayiplarini onlemek icin bir node’ a  yazilan verinin otomatik olarak baska nodlara replike edildigi ve tum verinin surekli olarak S3 denilen Amazon Basit Depolama Servisi’ nde  tutuldugu soyleniyor. Amazon’ un bazi musterilerinin SQL bazli Redshift urununu kendi buyuk veri ve analitik urunlerinde uzun bir suredir test ettigi biliniyor. Amazon’ un acikladigi kadariyla Redshift, ayni zamanda Business Objects ve Cognos gibi is zekasi urunleriyle de entegre edilebiliyor.

Amazon Redshift Now Available to All Customers > Read More  We are thrilled to announce the availability of Amazon Redshift, a fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service that makes it simple and cost-effective to efficiently analyze all your data using your existing business intelligence tools. Amazon Redshift is optimized for analyzing data sets of several hundred gigabytes to a petabyte or more and can provide significantly better performance at less than one tenth the price of most data warehousing solutions available to you today. On-demand pricing starts at $0.85 per hour for a 2-terabyte data warehouse, scaling linearly to a petabyte or more. Reserved instance pricing lowers the effective price to $0.228 per hour or under $1,000 per terabyte per year. Amazon Redshift also frees you from all the muck associated with provisioning, monitoring, backing up, patching, securing, and scaling your data warehouse. Amazon Redshift is available in US East (N. Virginia) with additional regions coming soon.

ASYA Bulut Guvenlik Ittifaki resmi olarak kuruldu. CSA (Bulut Guvenlik Ittifaki) ve EGA (Tayland Elektronik Hukumet Ajansi) Guney Dogu Asya ulkelerinde bulut bilisimin  benimsenmesinin basini cekmek amaciyla guc birligi yaptilar. 2 gun suren ASYA Bulut Bilisim Guvenlik Ittifaki  zirvesinde resmi olarak kurulusu duyurulan  ASYA Bulut Bilisim Guvenlik Ittifaki, Tayland ve guney dogu ASYA ulkelerinde kamu ve ozel sektordeki bulut bilisim standardlarini saglamak amacini tasiyor. Tayland hukumeti ile cercevesi cizilen ve resmi olarak imzalanan anlasma geregince, Hukumet EGA kanaliyla, Guvenlik Ittifaki’ nin bu bolgedeki tum etkinlikleriyle ilgili insan kaynaklari ve butce sorunlarini ustleniyor. Kurulusun imzacilari arasinda Tayland Bilgi Teknolojileri Bakanligi da var. Bilgi ve Iletisim Teknolojileri bakanlik  danismani Nattapong Seetavorarat, Ittifak’ la ilgili olarak yaptigi konusmada bu calismanin, bulut bilisim kullanicilarinin guvenligine yonelik sistemleri one cikarmayi amacladigini, Bulut bilisimde guvenlik alaninda yurutulen tum eylemlerin ve uzmanliklarin desteklenecegini, Tayland’ da kurulan bulut bilisim sistemlerinin, ve ozellikle Hukumet bulutu (G-Cloud) calismalarinin sureklilik kazanarak buyumeye devam edecegini soyledi. Tayland’ da, “Smart Farm” (Akilli Tarim) gibi diger akilli bulut cozumlerin uygulamasina gecilerek kamu sektorundeki is surecleri gelistirilecek ve kamuya daha iyi hizmet veren servisler olusturulacak. Kamu bulutunun Tayland’ da cok yogun bir gelisme ve buyume gostermesi bekleniyor.  Kamu sektorunde bulut bilisime guveni yukseltmek amaciyla guvenlik sistemi ve yasal sureclerle de ilgili calismalar yapilacak ve bu alanlarda da buyumeye gidilecek. Tayland’ da hukumet ve ozel sektor bulut bilisimi kurulan bu Ittifak’ la kullanicilara guven kazandirirken, ayni zamanda ASYA ulkeleri arasinda da bulut sistem guvenligini saglayacak ve tum ASYA ulkelerine optimal yararlar sunacak. Tayland bu Ittifak sayesinde bu bolgede guvenlik etkinliklerinde basi cekecek, bu eylemleri ve uzmanliklari diger ASYA ulkelerine de goturecek. Bulut bilisim guvenlik sorunlari yanisira Konferans’ ta konusulan diger konular arasinda bulut bilisimin benimsenmesinde karsilasilan guclukler, kamu bulutu, egitimde bulut bilisim, bulut bilisim is uygulamalari, bulut ve ulusal kriz yonetimi gibi konular da yer aldi. Kar amacli bir orgut olmayan CSA (Bulut Guvenlik Ittifaki)’ nin misyonu, bulut bilisimde guvenlik sorunlarina en iyi cozumleri getirmek, ve  bulut bilisim kullaniminda egitim saglamak. Guvenlik Ittifak’ i  dunya capinda sanayiciler, sirketler, dernekler ve kilit paydaslardan olusan genis bir koalisyon tarafindan yonetiliyor.

Thailand through EGA to adopt CSA Open Certification Framework (STAR) > Read More  Singapore, February 7, 2013 – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) today announced that it has signed a formal partnership with the Electronic Government Agency (EGA) of Thailand to drive cloud computing adoption in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The framework agreement was made official in a signing ceremony held during the ASEAN CSA Summit 2013 on February 7. Signing for EGA was Dr Sak Segkhoonthod, CEO and President of EGA, and signing for CSA was Aloysius Cheang, Managing Director APAC.  Nattapong Seetavorarat, Advisor to the Minister of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) served as witness to the signing on behalf of Group Captain Anudith Nakornthap, Minister MICT. The partnership will work to further the security of cloud computing and build capabilities  in the areas of both cloud computing and security within Thailand. “There is a huge latent demand for cloud computing among enterprise users in APAC. As such, we are seeing incredible interest in CSA throughout APAC where our education efforts are gaining traction and our key research initiatives are being adopted in these organizations. That puts us in a unique position as a trusted advisor to encourage senior management of these organizations to develop and adopt the right strategy and policies to ensure cloud security,” said Aloysius Cheang. “We are delighted to partner with the EGA, to help further our mission of promoting secure cloud computing for organizations and end users locally and globally.” Under the framework agreement Thailand government, through the EGA, will provide manpower support from their cloud research department to participate actively in CSA research initiatives, supporting the global CSA research center in Singapore. Additionally Thailand, through the EGA, will adopt the CSA Open Certification Framework (STAR) as a requirement for cloud service providers in the country and also work to drive cloud computing adoption in ASEAN. EGA will also work to ensure adoption of CSA’s Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) as a mandatory requirement for engineers engaged in cloud computing and/or security responsibility within participating cloud services providers. To further education and adoption, CSA will work with EGA to establish a think tank in Thailand consisting of senior management such as CIO or CISO that will drive thought leadership.

Ottawacitizen’ da Kanada Isyani Kanada’ li “Ottawacitizen” adli bir Internet sitesinde bulut bilisim ustune bir yazi yayinlandi. Bu yazida eski Microsoft yoneticisinin yaptigi bir aciklamanin duyurusu yer aldi. Bu aciklamaya gore, siyasal orgutler de dahil olmak  uzere Kanadali’ larin bilgisayar verileri eger Amerika Birlesik Devletleri’ nin populer bulut bilisim servislerinde depolaniyorsa, Amerikan casuslarinin eline gecebiliyor. . Avrupa Parlemonto’ su tarafindan hazirlatilan bir raporda, Microsoft sirketinin eski bas gizlilikdanismani Caspar Bowden’ in bir aciklamasi yer aliyor. Bu aciklamada Casper Bowden soyle diyor:  “Amerika’ da Amerika Birlesik Devletleri bulut sistemlerinde depolanan yabancilara ait verilerin   siyasal olarak izlenmesi yasal bir eylemdir.” Sozu gecen bu bulut bilisim sistemleri icinde Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM ve digerleri yer aliyor. Bowden’ e gore, 9-11 Eylul eylemlerinin arkasindan cok tartisilan “Patriot Act” gibi yasalar, Amerikan hukumetinin istihbarat izlemeleri uzerindeki kisitlamalari onemli bir olcude kaldirirken, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) - Yabanci Istihbarat Izleme Yasasi, ilk kez ozellikle Amerika Birlesik Devletleri disinda yasayan ve Amerikali olmayan yabancilarin bulut bilisim sistemlerinde depolanan verilerini  kitlesel izleme gucunu arttiriyor. Bowden, Amerika Birlesik Devletleri’ ndeki bu yasayi Avrupa’ nin veri ozgurlugune vurulmus “buyuk bir darbe” olarak niteleyerek Avrupalilarin durumu uzerine soyledigi  herseyin Kanadalilar icin de gecerli oldugunu vurguluyor. Haber once Slate.com web sitesinde duyuruldu. Bu duyurunun ardindan habere Ingiliz hukukculari tepki gosterdi. Ingiltere’ de yayinlanan “Independent” gazetesi de, Ingiltere’de bir kisim parlamenterin Amerika Hukumetiyle ortak istihbarat servislerinin durdurulmasi ve hassas hukumet  verilerinin Amerikan bazli bulut bilisim sistemlerinde tutulmasina son verilmesi konusunda Ingiliz hukumetini uyardigini yazdi. Ottowocitizen,veri casuslugunda en buyuk tehlikenin bulut bilisim sistemlerini kullanan Kanada sirketleri ve hukumet disi orgutler oldugunu yaziyor. Enerji, dogal kaynaklar ve ekonomi politikalari ustune enbuyuk savunma guruplarindan biri olan Kanadalilar Konseyi yurutme direktoru Garry Neill, kendi orgutlerinin de hedef alinacagindan suphesi olmadigini,  cunku kendilerinin de Amerikan cikarlarini  etkileyen etkinliklerle ugrastiklarini soyluyor Birkac dolar daha az para harcayacagiz diye bilgisayar servislerini buluta tasiyanlar cok dikkatli olmalidirlar, diyor. Kanadalilar Konseyi, kendi ana verisini ic bunyesinde tutuyor Internet ve web hizmetlerini de yalnizca Kanadali sirketlere yaptirtiyor. Bilindigi gibi bulut bilisim bireylerin, sirketlerin, hukumetlerin bilgisayar islemlerini kendi ic bunyelerinde tutmak yerine maliyeti daha dusuk Google ve Microsoft gibi sirketlere tasimalari anlamina geliyor. Internet bazli bulut bilisim servisleri yahoo, gmail, hotmail gibi email servislerini, veri depolamalarini, yazilim sistemleri ve  veri tabani mimarisi ve sunucularini kapsiyor. Sirketler ve hukumetler bilgi iletisim maliyetlerini cok dusuren bu servislere dogru yoneldikce bulut bilisim hizmetlerinde son yillarda buyuk gelismeler oluyor. OttowaCitizen web sitesinde yayinlanan yaziya Google soyle yanit verdi: ” Kolluk gucleri illegal eylemleri izlemeli ve halkin guvenligini saglamalidir. Ancak asiri genis tabanli taleplere karsi kullanicilarimizin kisisel bilgilerinin korunmasi da bir bu kadar onemlidir. Google kullanicilarinin Google’ da depoladiklari verilerin gizlilik ve guvenligine saygi gostermek bizim yaklasimimizin ana temasidir. ”  Google Ingiltere’ de yayinlanan Independent gazetesine de soyle bir yanit verdi: “verilere bu tur erisimin cok ciddi bir tartismayi ve daha fazla seffafligi gerekli kildigini dusunuyoruz.” Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Cisco gibi diger bulut bilisim sirketleri bu konuda yorum yapmaktan kacindi. Casper Bowden, FISA izlemesinin Avrupa Insan Haklari Komisyonu ve Kanada Sozlesmesiyle celiskili oldugunu soyluyor. Cunku bu yasalar, mantiksiz arama ve tutuklamalara karsi kisileri koruyor. Insan haklari ustune bir Avrupa Insan Haklari komitesi bu konuyu 20 Subat’ ta tartisacak. Ottowa’ daki Amerikan elciliginin bir sozcusu bu konuyla ilgili Pazartesi gunu Washington’ dan bir aciklama yapilmasinin beklendigini soyledi.

Cloud computing law puts Canadian users at risk of snooping by American spies> Read More  OTTAWA — American spies can snoop through Canadians’ computer data — including  that of political organizations and without warrants — if the data resides within popular U.S. cloud computing services, says a former Microsoft executive. In a report commissioned by the European Parliament, former Microsoft chief privacy adviser Caspar Bowden reveals, “it is lawful in the U.S. to conduct purely political surveillance on foreigners’ data accessible in U.S. clouds,” operated by U.S. firms such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM and others. One sweeping provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes the targeting of, “foreign-based political organization(s)... or foreign territory that relates to... conduct of the foreign affairs of the United States.” While other contentious U.S. post-9/11 laws, such as the Patriot Act, significantly lifted restrictions on government surveillance, Bowden says the foreign surveillance law, “for the first time (has) created a power of mass-surveillance specifically targeted at the data of non-U.S. persons located outside the U.S., which applies to cloud computing.” In an interview with the Citizen, he characterized the U.S. law as a “grave risk” to European data sovereignty and said, “everything I’ve said about the situation of Europeans applies also to Canadians.” British lawmakers reacted with anger this week after Slate.com broke the story. The newspaper The Independent quoted members of parliament calling on the government to consider a halt to shared intelligence services with the U.S. and to end the use of U.S.-based cloud computing for sensitive government data. The Canadian government makes limited use of cloud computing for some human resources and financial data services, but the systems are internal and controlled by Shared Services Canada. The biggest threat from FISA snooping appears to be Canadian business and non-governmental organizations that use the cloud. “There’s no question we would be targeted,” says Garry Neil, executive-director of Council of Canadians, one of the largest advocacy groups for Canada-first policies on issues such as energy, natural resources and economic policy. “We’re involved in campaigns that affect U.S. interests, in campaigns to try and slow down the development of the tarsands that would be seen as American foreign policy.” The organization stores its primary computer data internally and contracts with only Canadian companies for Internet and web services. Still, Neil says, “it does indicate for many who take advocacy positions that they really need to be very cautious about what they’re doing for the want of saving a few dollars,” by outsourcing their computer services to the Cloud. Authorization for the U.S. cloud surveillance comes from a subtle and largely unnoticed 2008 amendment to FISA commonly known as “warrantless wiretapping.” The controversial act allows U.S. federal agencies to electronically gather foreign intelligence on U.S. soil through electronic eavesdropping and other measures and without probable-cause search warrants. One of the parties to the targeted information must be believed to be outside the U.S. to protect the privacy of American citizens. But the 2008 change incorporated “remote computing services”  — cloud computing —  into the existing definition of an “electronic communication service provider.” Experts say that allows U.S. agencies to access customer files and other information at various U.S-owned cloud data centres in the U.S., Europe, India and other countries. Approval for electronic surveillance is given by the U.S. attorney general for a period of up to one year. U.S. companies that fail to comply with a FISA order can be brought before a secret FISA court for punishment and are prohibited from disclosing the existence of FISA orders served on them. A five-year extension of the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 was granted by Congress and the White House in December 2012.