Monday, October 17, 2011

How global laws protect your data



http://ow.ly/6Zr2Q

An article by Juliette Garside appearing on theguardian.com website.

The article discusses the multiple regulations that companies that store data in the cloud must be prepared to face.  As the article states, "For companies wanting to store data in the cloud there is a minefield of data protection laws to negotiate, so it is essential to know which country your data is physically stored in. "Most organisations don't even know what data they have," says Tony Lock, programme director at IT services consultancy Freeform Dynamics. "They are unsure where all the data is and once they've found it they are unsure how to protect it.""

The article further points out, "The European Union's Data Privacy Directive is crucial for UK firms. Created to facilitate the free movement of sensitive private information within Europe, it also makes it hard for data to be moved outside the region."

The article further states, "Conversely, for any company headquartered in America, data stored by that company, whether in the United States or in Europe, is subject to the US government's Patriot Act. Introduced after the 11 September terrorist attacks, it allows federal investigators wide-ranging access to emails, medical, financial and other records.

"The Patriot Act is probably the best thing the US ever did to act as a disincentive to other companies to use US data storage services," says Lock."

This will continue to be a developing area of law, as potential challenge arise between various rules that do not coincide.

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