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Cloud Computing: US Cloud Providers Lose Business from NSA Surveillance Concerns
A quarter of small businesses in the UK and Canada have decided to move their data out of US-based cloud services as a result of revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) is monitoring the data managed by those US providers, says PEER1 in a report that summarizes the results of a recent survey.
Silicon valley tech companies have become spooked after Edward Snowden leaked massive amounts of US surveillance information during the summer of 2013. A report in August 2013 by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation estimated that the US Cloud computing industry could lose up to $35 billion over the next three years because of the revelations.
In an open letter to the president and members of congress, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter and other technology companies wrote in December 2013 that “we understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide. The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.”
Robert Miggins, SVP business development of PEER1 , said that “with data privacy and security concerns top of mind after NSA, PRISM and other revelations around the world, businesses in the UK and Canada are taking real action. Many are moving data outside of the U.S., and even more are making security and privacy their top concerns when choosing where to host their company data. It’s clear that hosting and cloud providers need to take note and offer their customers true choice in terms of the locations and environments where they store their data, ensuring they can maintain security, compliance and privacy to the best extent possible.”
In response, some US cloud providers are considering or starting to build cloud facilities that would operate totally outside the US. Daniel Castro, a senior analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, as reported by the Wall Street Journal said that “countries are competing to be the Cayman Islands of data privacy.”
