At the Edge of Data Sovereignty

In this blog article, we talk about data sovereignty and how distributed computing at the edge addresses it. But first, what is data sovereignty? This is the right of governments, institutions, and individuals to manage their data and digital autonomy. Since everything is based on data, the concept is mostly defined by who controls the data, where it's stored, and where it's flowing.

What is Data Sovereignty and Sovereign Cloud

Data sovereignty is the idea that information should be governed by the laws and institutions in the country where it is created or collected.

Nations are enacting laws that will support the control and protection of locally produced data as well as the assertion of national technical autonomy. The fundamental objective is to safeguard against misuse, exploitation, and cyberthreats the privacy of commercial, governmental, and citizen information.

The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, also known as the CLOUD Act (2018), requires U.S-based vendors to disclose any information related to a customer or subscriber, including the contents of any electronic communications and non-content records, regardless of whether the communication or records are located inside or outside of the United States.

In order to comply with certain local jurisdiction rules on data privacy, access, and control, sovereign cloud can help supply the levels of security and data access needed. It is not surprising that hyperscalers are releasing products for sovereign clouds given that this industry is projected to grow to $71.2 billions by 2027.

Data Sovereignty with Distributed Cloud

Edge computing and distributed clouds may appear to be at odds with the concepts of data sovereignty and sovereign clouds, but they aren’t. The position of the management control plane appears to be the most important requirement. Customers request that the cloud control plane stay within specific boundaries. The edge locations can take part in the distributed cloud paradigm and satisfy the sovereignty criterion as long as they are still within the country’s boundaries. Let’s illustrate this with a few instances:

●Within sovereign boundaries, the remote control plane operates, while the management control plane operates outside of them..
●Both managerial control and remote control plane inside national boundaries.

The location where consumer data is kept is referred to as data residency. While data sovereignty refers to the laws and governance that apply to data while it is processed at a certain location, data residency refers to the physical location of the data. It is important to note that data sovereignty is only one aspect of sovereign cloud and does not equal to cloud sovereignty.

According to the concept of “digital sovereignty,” data is governed by and subject to the laws of the country in which it is collected. Therefore, if there is a tight necessity for data residency within geopolitical bounds, sovereign clouds are frequently used.

It is difficult to gain a complete grasp of who is in charge of and where firm data is located throughout its existence. And for businesses unprepared for the digital decade, where data sovereignty is the norm, even the mere possibility of dealing with onerous new regulations may be seen as a barrier to innovation. Dealing with new rules may increase operating costs as well..