Is Your Private Data Lost in the Cloud?

Does it matter where your computer data such as email, digital photos, personal videos, and documents resides? The Canadian Chamber of Commerce apparently doesn’t think so. It recently joined forces with its U.S. counterpart to argue for new rules in the Trans Pacific Partnership -- a proposed new trade agreement that includes Canada, the U.S., Japan, Australia and many other Asian and South American countries -- that would create barriers to privacy protections designed to require that personal data be stored locally.

Cloud computing law puts Canadian users at risk of snooping by American spies

OTTAWA — American spies can snoop through Canadians’ computer data — including that of political organizations and without warrants — if the data resides within popular U.S. cloud computing services, says a former Microsoft executive.

In a report commissioned by the European Parliament, former Microsoft chief privacy adviser Caspar Bowden reveals, “it is lawful in the U.S. to conduct purely political surveillance on foreigners’ data accessible in U.S. clouds,” operated by U.S. firms such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM and others.