European Cloud, EU Regulators, US Tech Companies

Will Marshall: European Regulators Take Aim at U.S. Tech Companies - WSJ.com: "Even as U.S. and European officials negotiate a major free-trade agreement, a new form of protectionism has surfaced across the Atlantic. Some in Europe are pushing for policies that would limit the free flow of data over the Internet. The calls for regulating the Web are also a symptom of a broader problem—a languishing economic partnership between the U.S. and Europe. Most pernicious is the proposal to create a "European cloud," a communications network that would prohibit data from traveling to servers outside the continent. Germany's largest telephone company Deutsche Telekom AG is an outspoken advocate of the idea, ostensibly hoping to quell privacy concerns. This would mark the end of an open, global Internet, which has been an incredible engine of economic growth. In an April report, the U.S. Trade Representative called the concept "draconian" and a way to give a "protectionist advantage" to companies based in the European Union...."

More Cloud News below--computing, storage, infrastructure, security (on mobile @ web version -- link below)

  Follow @CloudAlive

NSA Spying Costs US Tech Companies

Revelations of N.S.A. Spying Cost U.S. Tech Companies - NYTimes.com: "At the same time, Mr. Castro said, companies say they believe the federal government is only making a bad situation worse. “Most of the companies in this space are very frustrated because there hasn’t been any kind of response that’s made it so they can go back to their customers and say, ‘See, this is what’s different now, you can trust us again,’ ” he said. In some cases, that has meant forgoing potential revenue.Though it is hard to quantify missed opportunities, American businesses are being left off some requests for proposals from foreign customers that previously would have included them, said James Staten, a cloud computing analyst at Forrester who has read clients’ requests for proposals. There are German companies, Mr. Staten said, “explicitly not inviting certain American companies to join.” He added, “It’s like, ‘Well, the very best vendor to do this is IBM, and you didn’t invite them.’” The result has been a boon for foreign companies...." (read more at link above)

More Cloud News below--computing, storage, infrastructure, security (on mobile @ web version -- link below)

Follow @CloudAlive