Cloud computing, the Patriot Act and you

[steve2470]

http://www.obj.ca/Opinion/2011-01-20/article-2139749/Cloud-computing,-the-Patriot-Act-and-you/1

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"Under the act, U.S. officials could access information about citizens of other countries, including Canada, if that information is physically within the United States," reads a report on the website of Canada’s Treasury Board Secretariat. "Therefore, the potential exists for law enforcement agencies to obtain information about Canadians whose information might be handled under a contract between the federal government and a U.S.-based company."

Another critical aspect of the Patriot Act that can impact a corporation, regardless of physical location, and one that’s highly cloud-specific, falls under one of the main principles of cloud computing: multi-tenancy.

Multi-tenancy makes cloud computing work financially for the cloud provider, and is what makes it possible for the cost savings often seen by "moving to the cloud." But the downside to multi-tenancy is your cloud processes could be affected by actions taken by agencies under the Patriot Act on another system, corporation or person with whom you share a common infrastructure.

However slight, the good news is this act has never affected a Canadian entity. But that doesn’t mean it’s something to be ignored – in a recent Forresters survey of countries offering cloud-based data storage, only China, Russia, Thailand, Singapore and the United States are listed as being subject to government surveillance.

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[davidwparker]

1. We are in good company there. What a race to the bottom!

[nashville_brook]

2. only China, Russia, Thailand, Singapore and the United States are...subject to... surveillance

wow, that's terrifying.

[Pholus]

3. Never did think "the cloud" was such a great idea despite the hype....

My files, like my innermost thoughts, are my own. Not for you! :)

Keep control of things you don't want people to know. Use encryption everywhere. Use PGP in emails. Heck, use TOR.

You're probably still screwed, but at least you made em work for it.

And after all that, guess what? They'll find that I still had nothing to hide...

Not liking surveilance != disloyalty or criminality.

[Edweird]

5. Tor exit nodes are often packet sniffed, so plan accordingly.

[Taverner]

4. If they close the cloud, there will always be small clouds of which the govt will have no control

Ad hoc networks, using solar panels to power the routers and bands of peer to peer networks...

[Edweird]

6. Ad hoc is the solution to the 'internet kill switch'.

[Taverner]

7. Yup

Hell, I have enough equipment in my own home to set up a small datacenter. ESX Servers, Virtual Routers, and wireless access. Sure the pipe may be slow for a while, but once wireless techology allows you to have T1 speeds, we'll be good.

[Kurovski]

8. I think that you're not alone on that count. (nt)

[Posteritatis]

9. Nah, raucous, mocking laughter is the solution to the "internet kill switch." (nt)

[Taverner]

10. Delivered over TCP or UDP?

I mean, do you want to stream that to get it out to the most folks, or if you want to make sure the laughter is double-checked, so that if won't miss any chunks?

[Edweird]

11. To a certain extent I agree with you - however media consolidation

coupled with our evermore authoritarian (fascist?) government doesn't make it as far fetched an idea to me as it might have been a few years ago. At any rate, it never hurts to be prepared. The same preparations would be helpful in any natural disaster that wiped out utilities (a major earthquake along the New Madrid fault for example). But, yes, I agree with you in principle.