Could data follow the money to Switzerland to avoid government snooping?
Recent revelations about US government snooping may have made privacy-conscious companies think again about whether they can trust American cloud companies such as Amazon, Dropbox, Google and Microsoft. This could provide an opportunity for companies outside the US to provide havens for sensitive commercial data. So, why not Switzerland?
Switzerland has long been regarded as a private place to stash money. It could become a private place to stash data. That, at any rate, is the sales pitch being made by Mateo Meier, who runs Swiss data-hosting company Artmotion. The company claims "some of the world's biggest banks and tobacco companies" are clients, adding that its strict privacy policies prevent it from naming any names.
Meier says: "Unlike the US or the rest of Europe, Switzerland offers many data security benefits. For instance, as the country is not a member of the EU, the only way to gain access to the data hosted within a Swiss datacenter is if the company receives an official court order proving guilt or liability. This procedure applies to all countries requesting any information from a Swiss datacenter and unlike in the EU there is no special law for the US."
