Yesterday, the FBI reportedly raided a data center in Reston, Virginia, (unknown at this time but Verizon, CoreSite, Net2EZ, DFT, Quotecolo, and others have facilities in the area), as reported in the NY Times Bits blog.
The interest in the legal aspects of cloud computing has been a very important topic of discussion and debate over the past couple of years. The most obvious case is the use of the PATRIOT Act to obtain information and data from service providers and how that could impact the privacy and confidentiality of data.
The main issue with PATRIOT is that the subpoena is secret and, as such, not subject to challenge by the target, presumably to protect the nature of the investigation when ferreting out terrorists or their supporters. Every service provider/vendor I've spoken with has claimed that they will (paraphrasing) "comply with the letter of the law" while "vigorously defending their customers' rights". While it is not clear which data center provider was raided nor what their actions were (comply with defense or simply comply) is unknown.
The bottom line is that the FBI used a heavy handed approach when investigating a single organization (Lulz Security group, according to the NYT). And it is this very approach that is cause for concern to foreign governments and other organizations such as financial services companies and the principal reason behind reluctance to put data in the cloud. Or anywhere in the US now.
Thanks to those who Tweeted and Retweeted about this to make us all aware of the situation. I will try to find additional information and post as it becomes available.
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