NAFTA: U.S. proposal for cross-border data storage at odds with B.C., N.S. law

I've run into similar restrictions twice with clients.

For one, we had to put together a homebrewed Twilio-like service that connected to Canadian SIP trunks. That was a fun project and I learned way more about telephony and VoIP than I'd ever cared to :). Super fun though, there's still something magical about making an HTTP request and having your phone ring, and, for me at least, it's even more magical once you know how all the machinery works to make that happen.

The other was pretty straightforward: immigration lawyer who needed Canadian-hosted email. His concern was Patriot-Act-related. Having read the Canadian privacy legislation and the Patriot Act, he felt that he couldn't simultaneously be compliant with both laws if the server was hosted in the USA. Canadian privacy law requires you to disclose to your customer if their data is accessed, and the Patriot Act requires you to keep your mouth shut.