Hacker News Reader

I haven't put much thought in this, but is a Frankfurt data center provided by Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL (a Luxembourg-based company) considered a US cloud provider or a EU one? I mean, being wholly owned by a foreign owner doesn't generally change your jurisdiction, and employees of that wholly owned subsidiary (including its directors) are not required to obey USA laws or court orders but are required to comply with EU legislation.

View on HN

My understanding is that the distinction hinges on whether the data is available to a US based employee. Can the NSA show up at a US address and tell the people there to hand over the data? Can this data transfer happen without an EU based person taking some action? If the answer to both questions is yes, the data handling is not compliant.

Of course, IANAL, do your own research, etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com