It has been the common position of OECD member countries to oppose mandatory data localization. Data localization flies in the face of the logic of cloud computing. Microsoft has fought the US government on the issue in courts. Yet, when Canada wants data localization, they acquiesce.
In response to the mounting public concerns, leading technology companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google have established or committed to establish Canadian-based computer server facilities that can offer localization of information. These moves follow on the federal government’s 2016 cloud-computing strategy that prioritizes privacy and security concerns by mandating that certain data be stored in Canada. The Trans Pacific Partnership included restrictions on data localization requirements at the insistence of U.S. negotiators. Those provisions are likely to resurface during the NAFTA talks.
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