Microsoft to Europe: We're setting an EU 'data boundary' from 2023 Microsoft has confirmed that from the beginning of 2023, it will introduce an EU Data Boundary solution designed to help customers in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association comply with legislation including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). From January 1st, the Redmond tech monster promises to …
"greatly reducing data flows out of Europe and building on our industry-leading data residency solutions," said Julie Brill, corporate VP and chief privacy officer
The Chief Privacy Officer should know that completely stopping data flowing out of Europe is better than 'greatly reducing' it. Corporate double talk and 50 Pound words to cover it up.
And ultimately, unless the US govt changes its laws, then GDPR is incompatible with using US companies for any data processing.
The only way round it that I can see is local licensing - companies in the EU, not owned by US companies or people, license the technology and run it here, paying MS a licensing fee.
"The only way round it that I can see is local licensing - companies in the EU, not owned by US companies or people, license the technology and run it here, paying MS a licensing fee."
Microsoft actually had a version of this in place several years ago in Germany for some services (T-Systems ran the Data Centre(s) on behalf of Microsoft with effectively Microsoft having no access) but for some reason decided to shut it down recently, no idea why.
I can see another way around that: The EU gets together, pumps a pile of money into EU based tech centers and university-faculties, raises or enables subsidies for tech startups in that area of expertise, and encourages the buildup of EU based cloud solutions. Ideally the whole tech stack gets open sourced.
It's not like we don't have the know-how or the material wealth to do that.
She had always been a bit eccentric, but her love for cookies had reached new heights. As a highly skilled engineer living in Brussels, she had spent countless hours perfecting her latest creation: a PC enclosure made entirely out of cookie dough. It was a masterpiece, and her cat seemed to agree, constantly lounging on top of it and batting at the crumbs that fell to the ground.
But as she lay in bed one morning, she realized that her passion for cookies could be put to better use. She decided to embark on a mission to create a law that would require every single website on the internet to get people to accept cookies before they could use the site.
At first, she didn't expect anyone to take her seriously. After all, she was just one person with a strange obsession. But to her surprise, the bureaucrats in the EU were intrigued by her idea and decided to give it a shot.
And so, the law was passed, and now every website on the internet had to display a pesky box asking users to consent to cookies before they could access the site. It was a victory for cookie lovers everywhere, and she couldn't have been prouder.
But as she sat at her computer, munching on a freshly baked batch of cookies, she couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty. After all, the constant barrage of cookie consent boxes was starting to get on everyone's nerves.
She realized that the law she had fought so hard for had unintended consequences, and she vowed to use her skills as an engineer to come up with a better solution. She was determined to find a way to make cookies a joy, not a nuisance.
Please stop spreading the fallacy that any law requires web sites to ask for consent to use cookies.
Web sites can work perfectly well without requiring cookies on the client.
Web sites using cookies only to improve functionality can simply declare they do so and use them on a legitimate interest legal base.
Only when they want to use cookies to intrude on our privacy they have to ask for consent - and in that case i'd suggest you deny that request.
Damn those Europeans! They're gonna make it slightly harder to get their data without risking huge fines and government contracts! Who do they think they are?
Uhh, sir?
WHAT! SAY THE WRONG THING AND YOU GO OUT THIS WINDOW!
Well sir, it occurred to me that if we just kept the data in Europe, we can examine it there, then repackage it and sell it from there. They seem to be more worried about the US government getting hold of it than anything else.
ALL RIGHT SOMEONE OPEN THAT... That... that... hmm. I think you might be on to something at that, and I'll probably be retired before they even cotton on to it, much less actually pass something.
ALL RIGHT THEN!! We're going with <snap snap>
Uhh, Analyist Smith, sir.
No more! Now you're VP Smith in charge of... make up a title for your new department and make it happen!
So - am I a conspiracy theorist, or a time traveler from 10 years from now? Check my bank balance in a year to find out..
Correct. And that, in combination with other US laws (and the general ignoring of anything resembling control by US agencies) renders any agreement with the EU again a trading/political sticking plaster, not an actual solution.
Which Max Schrems and others (like me) full well know..
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