I have nothing to declare except my genius - Oscar Wilde
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Amazon launches a cloud service for the US government
CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER Amazon has launched a version of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) specifically for US government agencies.
Amazon's AWS division has become one of the firm's best known products, providing cloud computing and storage to a wide range of commercial and government organisations. Now Amazon has launched an AWS region called Govcloud (US) that will cater specifically for US government agencies and their contractors.
Not surprisingly Amazon was quick to boast of its security credentials, saying it supports "existing security controls and certifications such as PCI DSS Level 1, ISO 27001, and SAS 70". It offers support for the processing and storage of International Traffic in Arms controlled data, which means data access is limited to US citizens, automatically meaning that only US citizens can access Govcloud.
Amazon is also looking for other countries to sign up, however the UK government pulled the plug on its G-cloud initiative, opting instead to consolidate its datacentres.
Security concerns over data stored in the cloud still remain, and while there is a lot of work being done to reassure large companies that the cloud can store private data in a secure manner, it will be interesting to see what, if any, sensitive data US government agencies stick on Amazon's servers.
While Amazon's cloud services might represent a cheaper alternative to running datacentres, some US taxpayers might prefer that their government not store information on a commercial entity's equipment. µ
Tags: Software
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Thought Amazon sold books online. But keeps expanding into bizarre areas. And it's embedded into numerous web-sites by paying to be. You can regard that as harmless -- and of course even beneficial -- commercialism, but if trend continues, then Amazon will soon have an effective monopoly. And NO corporation is good or benign, simply doesn't apply: corporations are amoral and pursue only money.
Since young people don't know enough history, they're willingly embracing the mechanisms that will end up controlling their lives. -- In the case of Amazon, think "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984" combined: they'll determine which books you're allowed to even know exist. -- It's impossible to be too alarmist when the internet is transmogrifying society into exactly the surveillance state of "1984".