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Not to knock Amazon here, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a publically funded British institution running on American-owned servers. I known we live in a

Not to knock Amazon here, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a publically funded British institution running on American-owned servers. I known we live in a Globalist world now, and even if the BBC ran their own servers it would probably be running on American produced hardware (Dell)... What do people think? Am I worrying about nothing?

louwrentius 6y ago
I can relate to this sentiment. I would rather have seen they host it physically within the borders of the country, with a 'good' local hosting/cloud provider. The added cost is the cost of that kind of 'security'.
- sofixa 6y ago
  It's probably hosted in AWS' London region, so at least geographically it's within the borders of the country.
  - mshook 6y ago
    CLOUD Act makes that completely moot... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act Primarily the CLOUD Act amends the Stored Communications Act (SCA) of 1986 to allow federal law enforcement to compel U.S.-based technology companies via warrant or subpoena to provide requested data stored on servers regardless of whether the data are stored in the U.S. or on foreign soil.
    - oyashirochama 6y ago
      The UK can do the same depending on situation to the US, granted the US can just ignore it if they really want to. Most modern countries have backdoor privacy systems, 5 eyes was literally designed for it since they can't spy on their own citizens, they have a group from another allied country do it and give them the info.
    - namdnay 6y ago
      https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/cloud-act/#:~:text=Does%20the%20CLOUD%20Act%20take,country's%20laws%20or%20national%20interests https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/cloud-act/#:~:text=Does%20.... I think that if the order is not legal in the UK, AWS doesn't have to comply with a US judge
- dividedbyzero 6y ago
  Are there any local cloud providers in Britain?
cjwebb 6y ago
If you're worried about the BBC running on AWS, how do you feel about government departments with more sensitive data, like the Home Office, and HMRC, using it?
- sweatpants 6y ago
  I personally wouldn't feel great about it. Do they?
  - 7ewis 6y ago
    Yes https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/manual/govuk-in-aws.html https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/manual/govuk-in-aws.h...
hyko 6y ago
Britain leads the world in destroying its own industries in favour of international suppliers. In theory, that will lead to more prosperity in Britain, but in reality the competitors it invites in have usually been massively subsidised by their home countries, so the positive effects are harder to discern. Having said that, I can’t really see the benefits of the BBC building their own AWS any more than I can for building their own power stations (provided the dependency is abstracted and can easily be swapped for a competitor). I guess its somewhat similar to the situation with the transmitter masts, which are owned by Canadians and Australians: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arqiva https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arqiva
- jsmith99 6y ago
  If the competitors have indeed been subsidised by foreign countries, that's a nice transfer of wealth from those countries to Britain, and, given the low historical success of government industrial subsidy, one that only the British will benefit from.
  - hyko 6y ago
    In a world without a level playing field, the solution to poor quality industrial policy is better industrial policy. Foreign subsidies don’t result in a net transfer of wealth if they undercut your otherwise competitive domestic industry, for obvious reasons. It results in a misallocation of capital and the erosion of opportunities that should have otherwise existed domestically. All countries engage in free market distortion, to varying degrees. That may well be a suboptimal use of their resources, but unfortunately it also hurts countries that don’t respond in kind and who have bought into some simplified economic policy slogans.
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
The political relationship between the UK and US are pretty healthy, so I don't think there's much to worry about at this point. That said, if they do need to move out, it would be manageable - setting up a lambda runner on self-owned hardware is pretty straightforward I believe, and everything else can be otherwise virtualized, so they aren't bound to AWS' infrastructure. In theory.

louwrentius 6y ago

I can relate to this sentiment. I would rather have seen they host it physically within the borders of the country, with a 'good' local hosting/cloud provider. The added cost is the cost of that kind of 'security'.

sofixa 6y ago
It's probably hosted in AWS' London region, so at least geographically it's within the borders of the country.
- mshook 6y ago
  CLOUD Act makes that completely moot... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act Primarily the CLOUD Act amends the Stored Communications Act (SCA) of 1986 to allow federal law enforcement to compel U.S.-based technology companies via warrant or subpoena to provide requested data stored on servers regardless of whether the data are stored in the U.S. or on foreign soil.
  - oyashirochama 6y ago
    The UK can do the same depending on situation to the US, granted the US can just ignore it if they really want to. Most modern countries have backdoor privacy systems, 5 eyes was literally designed for it since they can't spy on their own citizens, they have a group from another allied country do it and give them the info.
  - namdnay 6y ago
    https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/cloud-act/#:~:text=Does%20the%20CLOUD%20Act%20take,country's%20laws%20or%20national%20interests https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/cloud-act/#:~:text=Does%20.... I think that if the order is not legal in the UK, AWS doesn't have to comply with a US judge
dividedbyzero 6y ago
Are there any local cloud providers in Britain?

cjwebb 6y ago

If you're worried about the BBC running on AWS, how do you feel about government departments with more sensitive data, like the Home Office, and HMRC, using it?

sweatpants 6y ago
I personally wouldn't feel great about it. Do they?
- 7ewis 6y ago
  Yes https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/manual/govuk-in-aws.html https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/manual/govuk-in-aws.h...

hyko 6y ago

Britain leads the world in destroying its own industries in favour of international suppliers. In theory, that will lead to more prosperity in Britain, but in reality the competitors it invites in have usually been massively subsidised by their home countries, so the positive effects are harder to discern. Having said that, I can’t really see the benefits of the BBC building their own AWS any more than I can for building their own power stations (provided the dependency is abstracted and can easily be swapped for a competitor). I guess its somewhat similar to the situation with the transmitter masts, which are owned by Canadians and Australians: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arqiva https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arqiva

jsmith99 6y ago
If the competitors have indeed been subsidised by foreign countries, that's a nice transfer of wealth from those countries to Britain, and, given the low historical success of government industrial subsidy, one that only the British will benefit from.
- hyko 6y ago
  In a world without a level playing field, the solution to poor quality industrial policy is better industrial policy. Foreign subsidies don’t result in a net transfer of wealth if they undercut your otherwise competitive domestic industry, for obvious reasons. It results in a misallocation of capital and the erosion of opportunities that should have otherwise existed domestically. All countries engage in free market distortion, to varying degrees. That may well be a suboptimal use of their resources, but unfortunately it also hurts countries that don’t respond in kind and who have bought into some simplified economic policy slogans.

Cthulhu_ 6y ago

The political relationship between the UK and US are pretty healthy, so I don't think there's much to worry about at this point. That said, if they do need to move out, it would be manageable - setting up a lambda runner on self-owned hardware is pretty straightforward I believe, and everything else can be otherwise virtualized, so they aren't bound to AWS' infrastructure. In theory.