4 ms·

Can we please have "certified/guaranteed not in U.S. jurisdiction"?

10 points by hoodoof 13y ago

It would be great if we could buy cloud based computing services that are certified to be out of U.S. jurisdiction. We need a way to clearly identify non-U.S. based services so we can buy safely.

thesmileyone 13y ago
If you live in the US then it won't matter. The whole point is they copy all data that passes from the US to any other continent. It would not suprise me if the PRISM system had something to do with the Megaupload takedown.
dirktheman 13y ago
Good idea, but fairly useless, I think. First of all, jurisdiction is a legal term, and the NSA apparently doesn't really care about what exactly is legal or not. Second of all, the tentacles of the NSA reach far beyond the US alone due to all kinds of political alliances. You can set up a server here in The Netherlands, but I can pretty much guarantee that your data won't be safe here, too. The biggest problem with this however are the end users. You can set up your server in North Korea for all I care, but as long as the end user is in the US, they can be snooped upon. A 'guaranteed NOT in the US'-seal will only instigate a false sense of security.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> We need a way to clearly identify non-U.S. based services so we can buy safely. Remember that NSA monitoring is controversial because it skirts laws (and related public expectations) which restrict NSA's monitoring of domestic communication, whereas the whole purpose of the NSA is to monitor foreign communication traffic in support of US national security interests. So, its somewhat naive to think that non-U.S. based services are particularly safe.
gesman 13y ago
Yeah. Get one "Made in China".
tptacek 13y ago
What you're saying is, you'd like to host your servers in a venue where NSA doesn't even need to ask permission to access them.
dholowiski 13y ago
What would be the requirements? Server not in the USA No US Employees Traffic does not transit through the USA Not incorporated in the USA Not using closed source software built in the USA Also, which countries would you see as 'better'? Is built and hosted in China a better option? (as a Canadian, these questions genuinely interest me)

10 points by hoodoof 13y ago

It would be great if we could buy cloud based computing services that are certified to be out of U.S. jurisdiction. We need a way to clearly identify non-U.S. based services so we can buy safely.

thesmileyone 13y ago

If you live in the US then it won't matter. The whole point is they copy all data that passes from the US to any other continent. It would not suprise me if the PRISM system had something to do with the Megaupload takedown.

dirktheman 13y ago

Good idea, but fairly useless, I think. First of all, jurisdiction is a legal term, and the NSA apparently doesn't really care about what exactly is legal or not. Second of all, the tentacles of the NSA reach far beyond the US alone due to all kinds of political alliances. You can set up a server here in The Netherlands, but I can pretty much guarantee that your data won't be safe here, too. The biggest problem with this however are the end users. You can set up your server in North Korea for all I care, but as long as the end user is in the US, they can be snooped upon. A 'guaranteed NOT in the US'-seal will only instigate a false sense of security.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> We need a way to clearly identify non-U.S. based services so we can buy safely. Remember that NSA monitoring is controversial because it skirts laws (and related public expectations) which restrict NSA's monitoring of domestic communication, whereas the whole purpose of the NSA is to monitor foreign communication traffic in support of US national security interests. So, its somewhat naive to think that non-U.S. based services are particularly safe.

gesman 13y ago

Yeah. Get one "Made in China".

tptacek 13y ago

What you're saying is, you'd like to host your servers in a venue where NSA doesn't even need to ask permission to access them.

dholowiski 13y ago

What would be the requirements? Server not in the USA No US Employees Traffic does not transit through the USA Not incorporated in the USA Not using closed source software built in the USA Also, which countries would you see as 'better'? Is built and hosted in China a better option? (as a Canadian, these questions genuinely interest me)