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Microsoft Now Offering Overseas Data Storage for Foreign Customers

TMCnet Feature

January 23, 2014

Microsoft Now Offering Overseas Data Storage for Foreign Customers

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By Rory Lidstone
TMCnet Contributing Writer

The fallout from the discovery of the NSA’s PRISM program is still ongoing, and it’s not really all that surprising.  Privacy was already a hot button issue before news of PRISM broke, after all, while the NSA’s behavior since then has made it clear the agency is willing to monitor data in any way it can. The best example of this was the discovery in November that the Agency had been intercepting data from Google (News - Alert) and Yahoo between data centers.


Unfortunately, for users, it’s pretty difficult to avoid this; you would pretty much have to stay off the digital grid one way or another, whether that means giving up the Internet entirely or only browsing the darknet from now on. But businesses have more options.

In this case, Microsoft (News - Alert) has made an unprecedented move to allow customers in foreign countries the option of keeping their data stored outside of U.S. borders. The Verge says the company decided to introduce this program in response to the NSA using its networks to access the data of citizens of Brazil and the European Union. Regardless of the reasons for it, this new program is the first of its kind, putting Microsoft ahead of the game for the time being.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the NSA won’t be able to reach servers outside of the United States; the fact that the Agency has developed a device that uses radio waves to gain access to systems is a good example of how inventive it can be when it wants to access data, after all. That said, Microsoft’s new offering would offer an additional layer of protection, at the very least.

According to Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, the company believes this is the right course of action for restoring the trust of its foreign users.




Edited by Cassandra Tucker


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