Friday, 27 January 2012 12:16
US cloud providers are tools of the American spooks
Written by Nick Farrell
You might as well give your data the US yourself
European companies who use US-based cloud services might as well stick all their secret data on the Internet for their rivals to see.
A partner at a top international law firm has warned that US cloud providers have to give foreign company data to US law enforcement by law without a warrent. Connie Carnabuci, a Hong Kong-based partner in global No.2 law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, said the recent Megaupload.com arrests showed how US anti-terrorism legislation can be misused.
Carnabuci said interpretation of the US Patriot Act was so broad it captured almost any communication or data held in the US or by Australian businesses with US "connections". She was speaking about Australia but the rules apply to Europe where companies are signing up to cloud deals with Microsoft, Amazon and IBM not aware how much of a security hole this is. Carnabuci said the Patriot Act gave the US a big stick "to compel disclosure of non-US data, which is stored outside the US".
The recent arrest of Kim Dotcom or Schmitz, of Megaupload.com, showed how the US could claim extraterritoriality, because Megaupload had servers in the US and was a .com, Carnabuci said.
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