[governance] Guardian: Fears over NSA surveillance revelations endanger US cloud computing industry

[michael gurstein]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/08/nsa-revelations-fears-cloud-computing


Fears over NSA surveillance revelations endanger US cloud computing industry


Companies say they could lose billions as customers become wary about their data being turned over to US authorities


    Charles Arthur, technology editor
    theguardian.com, Thursday 8 August 2013 13.16 EDT    



Some UK and European businesses are reluctant to trust US organisations with their data. Photograph: Adam Gault / Alamy

American technology businesses fear they could lose between $21.5bn and $35bn in cloud computing <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/computing>  contracts worldwide over the next three years, as part of the fallout from the NSA <http://www.theguardian.com/world/nsa>  revelations.

Some US companies said they have already lost business, while UK rivals said that UK and European businesses are increasingly wary of trusting their data to American organisations, which might have to turn it over secretly to the National Security Agency, its government surveillance organisation.

One British executive, Simon Wardley at the Leading Edge Forum thinktank, celebrated the publication of the information about the NSA's spying and its Prism <http://www.theguardian.com/world/prism>  data collection program: "Do I like Prism ... yes, and god bless America and the NSA for handing this golden opportunity to us," he wrote <http://blog.gardeviance.org/2013/07/on-prism-european-clouds-and-european.html>  on his blog. "Do I think we should be prepared to go the whole hog, ban US services and create a €100bn investment fund for small tech startups in Europe to boost the market ... oh yes, without hesitation."

A survey <http://www2.itif.org/2013-cloud-computing-costs.pdf>  by the US-based Cloud Security Alliance, quoted by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) found that American companies which offer file storage and computing in cloud systems – so they can be stored and accessed anywhere in the world – are gloomy about the effects of the Guardian's revelations of the extent of US government snooping and data gathering through projects such as Prism <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data>  and Xkeyscore <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data> .

Daniel Castro, author of the ITIF survey, said that it seemed reasonable to suggest that US cloud businesses could lose between 10% and 20% of the overseas market to rivals.

The effect has already been felt, Castro said. The ITIF survey found that of those outside the US, 10% had cancelled a project with a US-based cloud computing <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/cloud-computing>  provider, and 56% would be "less likely" to use a US-based cloud computing service.

Of those surveyed inside the US, 36% said that the NSA leaks had "made it more difficult" for them to do business outside the US.

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