Re: EU / "custom" AWS zones? (POPI (ZA) and GDPR requirements related)

[Colin Percival <cperciva@tarsnap.com>]

On 3/14/21 7:37 AM, hvjunk wrote:
>  Now the the USoA has lately been making my clients real jittery and thus they are asking about non-USoA base options, prefering to host locally in ZA ‘cause of the POPI Act requirements (Which then makes is a AWS/Azure type oferring ;( ) but “allowing” GDPR equivalent countries as last resort.
> 
>  So, though I raised this question years ago, (Like circa 2016) it’s becoming a bigger pain point today for me, and I’m also refering to https://www.tarsnap.com/faq.html#non-US-Tarsnap
> 
> Note, that referring to https://www.tarsnap.com/faq.html#non-US-Tarsnap ,  I’m NOT challenging the crypto nor tarsnap’s end-to-end security, but them clients are NOT liking the idea/words that looks tastes nor smells like USoA, as they immediately thinks NSA/Patriot Act etc. etc. ie. it’s an emotional not a technical issue, especially when they ask questions like: “What if the USoA blocks all internet connection to our countries?”

The short answer here is "Tarsnap is a technical solution to a technical
problem".  Political problems are out of scope.  (And in many countries,
"local government decides to outlaw crypto" is a much bigger danger than
"USA decides to partition the internet".)

> So the questions then:
> 
> 1) Possiblilities of Tarsnap.com setting up EU (and other “specific region”) nodes/options? (Yes, I expect it to be more expensive given the higher expenses related to the EU & ZA regions as a starting point) and referring to https://www.tarsnap.com/faq.html#non-US-Tarsnap - what is holding back ETAs?

A lot of redesigning of the backend service.

> 2) If (1) is a no-no: Would you be willing to assist (at fee/etc.) to setup a similar service for the EU/etc.
> 
> 3) What about running on other S3 “compatible” block storage environments? ie. a on-premise solution(s)

It is possible to set up a "private Tarsnap".  Possible, but expensive.  If
you're interested in this, contact me offlist -- ideally with an estimate of
the amount of data you need to store.

-- 
Colin Percival
Security Officer Emeritus, FreeBSD | The power to serve
Founder, Tarsnap | www.tarsnap.com | Online backups for the truly paranoid