Cloud Embargos

In international commerce and politics, an embargo is the prohibition of commerce (division of trade) and trade with a certain country, in order to isolate it and to put its government into a difficult internal situation, given that the effects of the embargo are often able to make its economy suffer from the initiative.

Imagine the future... less technology developed countries start "porting" some of their key systems in to CloudComputing centers of more technologically advanced countries... those countries will be able to make "CloudEmbargos" on which the use of local CloudComputing centers is prohibited to the dependent country in order to put its government into a difficult situation.

I wonder if countries should start creating laws for prohibiting the use of CloudComputing for the hosting of any (even those seemingly "not key") government related services.

-- AnonymousDonor

There are already countries that forbid the storing of their data on foreign systems. This prevents UnitedStates data centers from holding and processing data from several countries currently. I think it's probably better for the people who have the national interest to regulate where their data may be stored and processed, rather than the countries doing the storing and processing to restrict who they may serve based on some concern that their own lapses in ethics may cause harm to others.

AmazonWebServices?, for example, are now available in Europe: http://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2008/12/amazon_ec2_in_europe.html -- JeffGrigg

That is great news... but we are still dependent on a single company. For CloudComputing to be really reliable, we need stuff like AmazonElasticBlockStorage? but that works between different cloud providers... maybe it will be called CloudElasticBlockStorage? ?. Basically it needs to become something so reliable that we could store whatever information the guys at WikiLeaks dream off in their wildest fantasies, without any fear of it being deleted/stolen/censored by/from an interested party.

It should also be possible to have the information and applications running in one cloud provider transparently mirrored in other cloud providers, so that if the government of one of the cloud providers takes the provider down, the service is not interrupted.

{It is quite feasible to have fully-distributed clouds - no central management or ownership by any company, and anyone with a cloud-enabled program may (if they wish) also contribute to the cloud (be a provider of compute-cycles and space) in order to benefit from locality (similar to web-apps running inside the browser). One might be able to create a free market for compute cycles and space, with certs for trust or guarantees (like privacy). Large companies that maintain AC and electricity anyway could power computes after hours in order to compensate. Many would likely offer a great number of free cycles and space, but (with sufficiently easy access) demand is likely to expand to match supply (ParkinsonsLaw), and a free market means people vary rates to maintain a desired load.}

Of course, if it is feasible, this open the question: Will governments allow for clouds to be truly safe? or will truly safe clouds become legally impossible? What will the recording companies think about a cloud service that distributes pirate music and that can not be stopped without starting legal processes in a hundred countries?

{Governments will have a hard time becoming BigBrother to CloudComputing on the simple basis that companies have much precedent for VirtualPrivateNetworks and a growing reliance on TeleCommuting and will be reluctant to have 'government' poking in on their content management. Anyhow, record companies can choose to see CloudComputing - especially a version supporting ObjectCapabilityModel and some PublicKeyInfrastructure facilities (privacy and trust certs and such) - as an opportunity. CopyRight is based on social contracts, not on technology, but ObjectCapabilityModel and PublicKeyInfrastructure provide a technological basis for describing and enforcing both service protocols and court-enforceable social and business contracts - and these are far more achievable with a common CloudComputing infrastructure than with the current ad-hoc system of HTTP and e-mail and XML service descriptions. Regardless of CloudComputing, services whose industry is duplication and distribution of 'static' content such as music, books, and movies must adapt or die. Within a few generations, those that haven't adapted simply won't be around to object.}