Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Microsoft capitulates, announces German data centres

Clouds in Europe won't rain data onto US spies

Call it “safe harbour” in action: Microsoft has announced it's going to go along with Germany's data privacy concerns and start hosting Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics CRM Online in that country.

The decision comes hard on the heels of the company's decision to spin up some rust in the UK, with the Ministry of Defence as an anchor customer.

In its announcement, Redmond also says German customers will have data access controlled by Deutsche Telekom, acting as local data trustee.

The German operator's T-Systems subsidiary will handle the data trustee functions, managing all access to customer data in the Microsoft data centres. “Microsoft will not be able to access this data without the permission of customers or the data trustee, and if permission is granted by the data trustee, will only do so under its supervision”, the announcement states.

Since Microsoft won't be in charge of the data, even an unfavourable decision in its US court case (in which the Feds want access to e-mails stored in Ireland) won't expose German customer data to American courts or law enforcement.

To ensure business continuity, the company says it will spin up machines in two regions, Magdeburg and Frankfurt, and data will be exchanged between the two locations over a private network, rather than the public Internet (so as not to risk data being routed outside Germany for any reason).

The service will follow German data handling regulations, Microsoft says, and customers will be able to view “how and where data is processed”.

In a paywalled story, the Financial Times says customers will have to pay a premium to have their data guarded by the trustee. ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like