Cloud technology is indisputably goes beyond the borders. Countries on earth, need the same rules and regulations on cloud data security. There should be universal body on earth, its duty to be defined as regulating the laws on cloud across all countries in this small world.
Microsoft has a cloud data storage case dispute with US Government, dispute still continues in the courtrooms and press.
Why did Microsoft said "NO" to the US Government? Because US Justice Department issued a search warrant on a data stored in one of the Microsoft's Data Centres in Ireland. Search is said, is related to an international drugs related case. Hence US Justice Department is demanding data from a company based on its soil on an email account stored by Microsoft in another country which applies different laws and regulations for the cloud data security other than US.
How this dilemma is going to be resolved? magistrate district judge have already agreed with the government and said data has a "nationality." But Microsoft determined to carry on fighting at the appeals level.
Why should we care about this issue? Because the case is the first of its kind, and should the government win, governments can start on-demand data requests in the future without using the courts. Since this dispute has started, Microsoft saw some worldwide cloud companies came into its defence among them are Apple, Verizon, NPR as well as Fox News, Electronic Frontier Foundation and even Irish Government. Irish Government sees the Approach of US Justice Department as an interference into its sovereignty.
US Justice Department could have asked Irish authorities for the data as there is an agreement between the states called "mutual legal assistance." This is how authorities from different countries can talk to each other and share information. But it's often regarded as slow and cumbersome. Instead Justice Department wants to go to the companies directly which are based in the US, even though most of the world's data is stored outside the US.
This case, if lost, will likely sink any remaining trust in the US cloud industry -- and that includes your emails, your stored documents, and sensitive business data, particularly for those outside the US.
Wherever you are in the world, if you're using Microsoft to host your emails, Google to host your documents, Amazon to provide your storage, and Apple to provide your personal cloud, it's open season on your data as far as the US government is concerned.
The software giant's cloud business is worth $8 billion alone. And, the last thing the company wants is to get crushed under the US surveillance machine. But if Microsoft looses the case not only Microsoft, but also other companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Cisco, and telcos such as Verizon, will be impacted by the decision, which will apply to them respectively.
And also other countries like China whose companies have data centres outside their borders can demand data for security from other countries like US. They could demand the records of US persons through one of its mainland companies, such as Alibaba, Lenovo, and Baidu.
Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said "We better decide we're not going to try to impose our law on other people." Americans may trust businesses in their own land. But to the outside world, trust remains a big issue. Europe has some of the strongest data protection and privacy laws in the world.
So the question is why would any company, citizen, or even government trust a cloud company if it's subject to the whims of US intelligence?
Microsoft's next court appearance is September 9.
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