Get the latest tech news

Microsoft Refuses To Divulge Data Flows To Police Scotland

Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) are pressing ahead with a Microsoft Office 365 rollout despite Microsoft refusing to disclose where sensitive law enforcement data will be processed. Freedom of Information documents reveal that Microsoft cannot guarantee data sovereignty, may ...

Slashdot reader Mirnotoriety shares an excerpt from a Computer Weekly article:"MS is unable to specify what data originating from SPA will be processed outside the UK for support functions," said the SPA in a detailed data protection impact assessment (DPIA) created for its use of O365. It further added that while Microsoft previously agreed to make a number of changes to the data processing addendum (DPAdd) being used for Police Scotland's Azure-based Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) -- the nature of which is still unclear -- Microsoft has advised that "O365 operates in a completely different manner and there is currently no way to guarantee data sovereignty." It further noted that while a similar "ancillary document, like that provided ... via the DESC project" could afford "some level of assurance" for international transfers generally, it would still fall short of Part 3 requirements to set out exactly which types of data are processed and how.

Get the Android app