> The main problem is that of data ownership (which implies, having the data local, and processing it locally). I think that your concept of data ownership can

> The main problem is that of data ownership (which implies, having the data local, and processing it locally). I think that your concept of data ownership can be broken down into two related but independent concepts: access and control. Access means the ability to read; control means the ability to delete. Right now, if I upload content to almost any cloud provider I give access and control of my data to that provider: using G+ gives Google the ability to view every photo I upload, and to delete them all at a whim. In a hypothetical cloud provider which enabled me to encrypt data locally, they would have no access to my data, but would still be able to delete it. I would actually like the ability to grant control over a copy of my data without granting access to it; the two should be independent. I've had a vague idea for some time of system which enabled me to store encrypted data and share the keys with my friends but not with the storage provider. There's been some interesting work in indexing encrypted data which could be pertinent to this, enabling a storage provider to offer search capability while still being unable to read the data itself.