Export Control Implications of Cloud Computing

The most apparent concerns about cloud computing are security and privacy. The implications for export controls are less obvious to network administrators. A cloud's routers, servers and storage devices are typically hosted in multiple physical locations or data centers - oftentimes across the globe.

A U.S. company that uploads technical data to the cloud may not know where its data will be stored within the cloud. It may be routed through Germany and stored on a server in India or elsewhere.

Because U.S. export control laws regulate the shipment and transmission of controlled products, software and technology across national borders, knowing the actual trajectory and physical destination of technical data is essential to understanding whether a transmission requires an export license from the U.S. government. That knowledge will also determine the degree of export compliance that is required.

Cloud computing, therefore, poses unique export compliance challenges for cloud users and providers, in addition to the compliance issues that already exist in any other Internet context.