The Google-OVH deal marks a new era in cloud services
The two companies claim that this cooperation is a response to the abolition of the EU-US Privacy Shield that took place this summer by the European Court of Justice and an action to comply with the GDPR.
Also known as “Schrems 2”, the European Court of Justice ruled last summer to annul the EU-US Privacy Shield, the agreement on which most cross-border data exchanges between Europe and the United States were based. , was a turning point. From this point on we sail in “uncharted waters”.
The enactment and implementation of the GDPR in Europe and its blatant contradiction with US law, where government agencies are entitled to require US-based companies to provide personal data they collect for national security purposes, without the necessary privacy guarantees European legislation was expected to lead to “conflicting” developments.
And while the SCCs (Standard Contractual Clauses) solution was temporarily chosen as the basis for the continuation of data exchanges, as they were not directly affected by the European Court of Justice ruling, they could not be a long-term solution. In no case can the Standard Contractual Clauses replace the need for a regulated institutional framework with the force of law.
The first big development comes with the agreement announced by Google Cloud and OVH Cloud, a French cloud service provider.
What is the agreement?
Google provides OVH with Anthos software to provide Google cloud services in Europe, keeping the data on its own servers, ie on European soil and under its own management. In this way, Google violates US law, also known as the CLOUD Act, so that its services can be provided seamlessly and without manifestly contradicting basic requirements of the GDPR.
The main thing that is changing is that Google will not be related to the data collected, stored, processed in Europe for services that will be provided through its software, as the Processor will have changed and it will be OVH. In other words, the accountant has changed and he is no longer Google. So there is no question of US Services asking for data from Google when it has nothing to do with it.
It is the first such deal for Google Cloud, as the hitherto established practice for the tech giant has been to set up subsidiaries or acquire companies. Based on its strength and size it could apply such a commercial practice, at least in the pre-GDPR era. The agreement with OVH immediately relieves it of the burden of complying with US law.
Of course, strategic decisions such as the one represented by the Google-OVH agreement on cloud services are not “regular” moves, but rather reflect a shift to a more permanent basis.
Will this move signal a “new era” in the business practices of other large companies? Market reactions will play a key role.
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