A lesson in Data terminology
Interestingly, these have very distinct and different meanings.
- Data Sovereignty refers to the laws applicable to data because of the country in which it is physically located. The legal rights of data subjects (any individual whose personal information is being gathered, retained, or processed), and data protection requirements, depend on the location in which their data is stored. Accordingly, organisations will have different responsibilities for data in different geographical locations.
- Data Localization refers to a governmental policy that prohibits organisations from transferring data outside a specific location. It is a special case of data sovereignty.
- Data Residency is a decision by businesses to store data in a specific geographical location. Organisations might store data in a specific location to avoid legal requirements, take advantage of taxes, or for performance reasons. Once an organisation chooses a location for its data, it is subject to data sovereignty, which are the laws applicable in that region.
All this has an impact on your choice of cloud storage, especially when you have a hybrid cloud strategy. Each cloud deployment must adhere to separate, local legal requirements. So, when considering where to store data, you need to understand where the data will be stored and the laws that apply in that location. Some useful pointers can be found here