One of the many interesting things to come out of the PRISM/Verizon scandal that Obama’s administration and the NSA have found themselves in is: where does this leave the cloud? With both Microsoft and Google appearing in that infamous slide deck, PRISM has cast a long shadow over Cloud based services due to privacy and data security concerns. Especially with some of the doubts raised over the NSA’s own ability to keep the data they collect secure.
Another issue is where this leaves company’s using USA based Cloud based services based in countries with actual privacy laws. Like those based in Europe. It also threatens the USA’s “safe harbor” status, the only reason companies from the states can store European customer data in the USA without breaking Europe’s many strong privacy laws.
This PRISM thing is both a comedy gold mine and an interesting story to watch.