A particular story that gained popularity last week has really caught my attention and got me thinking. If you didn’t know a US Judge has just ordered Microsoft to release emails from servers stored in a foreign Datacentre (based in Ireland). The decision isn’t immediate and gives MS time to appeal, but it’s not looking good for those who think that data stored overseas is safe from the US government. This comes at a time when not many have forgotten about the revelations from Edward Snowden that the NSA and GCHQ have been helping themselves to all manner of data stored both abroad and locally.
As SharePoint people – who are being encouraged to adopt Azure and Office 365 – what does this mean for you? Will this change the viewpoint of the organization that you are working in? If this US ruling sticks, what’s the future for global US Tech companies in general? Is this decision so big that it will stifle the development of Cloud Services? Or, is it something that will eventually be circumvented by those who can afford to implement a complex network of international companies that can operate under different jurisdictions.
Thoughts?
Mass surveillance is an invasion of privacy and the foundation of a police state. Any time we tolerate the massive collection of data without cause, we face the potential of misinterpretation or misuse of the information. This practice is further worrisome because in today’s world multinational corporations have no borders or definition of jurisdiction. The fact that corporations would store any information that is not required for my current services and relationships is questionably a violation of my privacy and exposes me to risks unnecessarily.
I think a company like Microsoft should be applauded for standing against the trend of government to invade the human decency of privacy in our lives. I think it’s only the beginning.
I’d like to see further actions from Microsoft to protect the public like robust retention policies that “destroy” information when it become obsolete and unnecessary, and a “minimization” of profile and marketing information with the ability for the customer to opt-out of data collection and profiling.
As long as the companies that serve us collect and store massive amounts of information, the intelligence communities of the world will have a hunger for the information and do whatever possible to obtain the information .. if not legally then illegally. Privacy is a human right and a protection against government overreach and abuse of power. Support Microsoft and your rights to privacy and hold your politicians accountable for any transgressions.
With regard to the question of Azure, other cloud services and O365 … that adds the exclamation point.
Especially in light of the admission that US data gathering extends beyond security applications and into the realm of entrepreneurial espionage.
Unfortunately in this case the data is actually stored in Ireland but because Microsoft are a US company the court believes it has jurisdiction over any data that is stored on their servers, anywhere in the world! That is what is so frightening about this.
The US is trying to set a precedent where any company that does business in the US will fall entirely under US jurisdiction. The likely end result of this path is not that everyone reluctantly hands over all of their info to the states, but rather that big tech companies stop basing any of their operations in the US. It takes a pretty astounding level of arrogance to demand access to something so far outside of their jurisdiction.
Looks like Microsoft are resisting the order … for now :
- http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-refuses-to-give-access-to-emails-stored-outside-us
- http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0GT2GV20140830?irpc=932
