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First, a little bit of background... PIPEDA, CATA, PATRIOT... a whole lot of acronyms that can affect the privacy and security of your information.
Here's what these names stand for:
- PIPEDA (Canadian): The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
- CATA (Canadian): The Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act
- USA PATRIOT Act (USA): Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism
The hot-button topic:
■ what can happen to your Canadian business's data while it's
being stored on a backup server located in the United States?
The nutshell:
■ the USA PATRIOT ACT allows U.S. authorities to obtain a
warrant, then search through data stored on servers located
in the U.S. WITHOUT having to tell the owners of that data
Reality checks:
- the CATA, combined with the National Defense Act (NDA), gives Canada's Minister of Defence the ability to authorize the investigation of data stored on servers located in Canada - NO search warrant is necessary
- the Canadian Government has equal if not greater ability to monitor data stored in Canada than the U.S. Government does in the United States
- if you've used your credit card to make a donation or purchase on-line, the U.S. Government already has access to that financial data... here's how:
- many credit card processors are overseas
- if you are using one of the major credit card providers, most likely the “parent” organization of the processor is ultimately U.S.-based
- section 326 of the Patriot Act requires all financial institutions (this includes credit card processing companies) to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each person who ‘opens, charges to or changes’ an existing account
- the information is used to help the U.S. Government in the fight against the funding of terrorism and money-laundering activities
- despite these facts, for Canadians there is a feeling of helplessness and violation if the U.S. Government goes through Canadian data stored on a U.S. server
Store your valuable Canadian business data in Canada, with
My Canadian Cloud™
We custom-design your backup strategy so you get value and peace of mind. Depending on your needs, we can set up multiple backup schemes using the latest backup hardware and software storing your backup data in Canada.
My Canadian Cloud™ off-site backups feature:
- Canadian location for the data centre that houses the backup servers
- physical accessibility by Digital Hero and its agents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year (i.e. we can physically walk into the data centre and see the actual servers your backups are on)
- a data centre equipped with backup power and environmental controls
- multiple security levels needed for entry (i.e. fob, biometric, etc.)
Contact Digital Hero for a FREE, no-obligation, quotation for your particular backup needs. On-site backup plans can also be put together - off-site backups aren't necessarily right for everyone.