Guest Blog: The Cloud Understands Geography
***This is a guest blog post from Patrick Jobin of Storagepipe.com. The views in this post do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CloudComputingZone.com. If you are would like to guest blog for us, use our contact form and send us your submission***
I think that, by this point, most of the suspicion and distrust around cloud computing has largely subsided. Companies now understand that SaaS providers have very strong incentives for protecting privacy… and that they invest significantly in data security.
After all, their entire business rests on their reputation and their ability to protect confidential client data.
But there’s another area of cloud computing security which isn’t often talked about. And this is an area that goes beyond technology.
What would happen if an American company – that did a large part of its business with the Military – decided to store their data in a cloud-based CRM which was based out of China?
This raises some interesting questions.
Most people simply assume that “the cloud” is some obscure, magical place that has no grounding in the physical world. But the obvious fact is that cloud servers must reside somewhere. And wherever they reside, they will be subject to the laws of that territory.
Thankfully, SaaS providers have thought about these issues and invested substantially in protecting their users… as they have with many other privacy and security-related concerns.
A Canadian Company might be required to protect their client information in accordance with Canadian laws such as pie PIPEDA.
But if they were to store this information using a SaaS provider that was based out of the United States, then they would also be subjects to American laws such as the Patriot Act or other regulations relating to courtroom disclosures.
There might come a day when their SaaS provider will be legally obligated – under US law – to disclose stored information in such a way that puts the Canadian company out of compliance with their local regulations.
One way of preventing this type of problem, would be to ask your cloud provider if they are able to store your data within the borders of your own country. This way, a Canadian Company could save their Canadian data on Canadian servers, ensuring that they will only be subjects to the laws of one country.
If your company would like to take advantage of the cloud in order to save time, reduce costs, and enhance the capabilities of your IT infrastructure… and you’re concerned about how this would affect your regulatory compliance obligations… you may want to look for a SaaS provider which hosts its data within the boundaries of your own country.
This is fairly easy. All you have to do is ask the right questions. More likely than not, there’s a company which already has facilities are available in your country.
About The Author: http://storagepipe.com is a leading provider of server online backup services, and they have facilities in Canada that are available to Canadian businesses.
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Category: Cool Stuff, Guest Blog, Infrastructure, Resources, Security, Strategy, Tools
