EU Warns Cloud Customers of Data Surveillance by U.S.

[Guest]

The European Parliament published a new study prepared by the Centre D'Etudes Sur Les Conflits and the Centre for European Policy Studies that raises concerns of cloud data surveillance.

EU Warns Cloud Customers of Data Surveillance by U.S. : Read more

 

[-Fran-]

Why is this a surprise?

I mean, really... With a warrant they have access to pretty much everything on a server from a 3rd party company. Thing is, we're supposed to trust that, information in their hands is being used for the 'greater good'.

Cheers!

 

[soundping]

Everybody's guilty until proven less guilty.

 

[fnh]

Weren't the Europeans also worried about the US ECHELON network? Alleging industrial espionage on the part of the Americans through its SIGINT capabilities?

Meh, it's just another (trans-,multi-)national pissing contest if anything.

 

[abbadon_34]

well DUH ...

 

[A Bad Day]

[citation][nom]soundping[/nom]Everybody's guilty until proven less guilty.[/citation]

In the name of security of freedom!

(sometimes makes sense, if you don't think or ask)

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

We must have way too much liberty.
We need to start giving it away quickly before it grows

 

[BriboCN]

At this point if you don't encrypt something expect that others can see it. It really does not matter where you are and what you do. Being able to encrypt data is so easy these days why they would not base a cloud infrastructure around it is beyond me.

 

[thecolorblue]

[citation][nom]BriboCN[/nom]At this point if you don't encrypt something expect that others can see it. It really does not matter where you are and what you do. Being able to encrypt data is so easy these days why they would not base a cloud infrastructure around it is beyond me.[/citation]
the cloud is about mining your data - that is its corporate purpose

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]Yuka[/nom]Why is this a surprise?I mean, really... With a warrant they have access to pretty much everything on a server from a 3rd party company. Thing is, we're supposed to trust that, information in their hands is being used for the 'greater good'.Cheers![/citation]

I think the point the EU is raising is that they don't need a warrant for non-US citizens which 'FISA.. explicitly circumvents for non-Americans.'

 

[npcomplete]

I agree about clients using their own encryption, but that is an extra step that has to be done and removes certain features. A few services (very few) do offer end-to-end encryption where they do _not_ maintain your private key. I think Kim Dotcom's upcoming Mega service would be a good choice, since there's now an incentive for him to limit his liability as well

 

[Shin-san]

You are using someone else's servers, so yeah, that's always something to consider even with the top cloud providers. On the other side, if you are serving stuff that's considered public information anyways, then the cloud is fine

 

[d_kuhn]

Just assume that every single bit of data you put on the net is being monitored, possibly by more than one entity... and you'll be MUCH closer to reality than assuming you can keep it private.

 

[11796pcs]

And this is why I run my own FTP server out of my home. As much space as you can afford in hard drives and complete privacy. Do people seriously think the data on their cloud accounts is private? If we've learned anything over time it's that anything on someone else's servers is not private.

 

[cinergy]

[citation][nom]11796pcs[/nom]And this is why I run my own FTP server out of my home. As much space as you can afford in hard drives and complete privacy. Do people seriously think the data on their cloud accounts is private? If we've learned anything over time it's that anything on someone else's servers is not private.[/citation]

Yes, people and I included expect that my data is private and secure e.g. in Microsoft Cloud.

 

[10tacle]

Never have liked the idea of remote online accessible storage, even when Dell gave me "free" 8GB worth for my last laptop purchase. Never even signed up for it out of principle, let alone the useless space (I have two 64GB thumb drives on my key chain at all times, thanks). Now I can understand why some people would feel better about backing up their data remotely in the event of a fire, theft, loss, or corrupted hard drive.

However, if you are competent and take the steps necessary to store your data securely (backup Blu-Ray burned discs placed in a home fire-proof safe or bank safe deposit box for example), there is no reason to look to somewhere else to store your information and trust them to do so securely.

 

[Guest]

Very few actually seem to care about the fact that much of what they share electronically may be monitored. For those that DO actually care, there are several options, many of which are free. Just Google "private secure encrypted" and you will get a list.

 

[plattyaj]

Since there is no way of knowing someone's nationality from an online identity we can conclude that either everyone is safe (they wouldn't want to accidentally get a US citizen) or nobody is. 100-1 it's the latter, nobody is safe.

 

[susyque747]

Been saying this for the last couple years, don't trust the cloud and more importantly, don't trust the government.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

[citation][nom]plattyaj[/nom]Since there is no way of knowing someone's nationality from an online identity we can conclude that either everyone is safe (they wouldn't want to accidentally get a US citizen) or nobody is. 100-1 it's the latter, nobody is safe.[/citation]

Ever heard of mapping IP addresses to countries (and ISPs)?

 

[plattyaj]

[citation][nom]Someone Somewhere[/nom]Ever heard of mapping IP addresses to countries (and ISPs)?[/citation]
Yes, I also know many US citizens who live in foreign countries and plenty of non-US citizens who live in the US. I was one of those until a few years ago ...

 

[warezme]

My theory is and has always been if your company or organization is so big or important that it must protect it's data offsite, it is big and important enough to build it's own offsite data repository, maybe two or three even. There are some good business models for cloud commerce and storage like large online retailers but the cloud is a buzz word and most people don't need it no matter how important they think they are. If you are going to trust your "valuable" data to cloud storage then you are foolish and deserve to get what you get.

 

[d_kuhn]

+1 to the cloud being a buzzword... it was pretty funny to watch how many existing internet products were repackaged and rereleased as "cloud" products once the marketing geeks got hold of the term.