Felipe Silveira wrote:
It is difficult to run our operations if we have to speculate on what governments can and cannot do. Instead, we apply a risk-based approach, paying close attention to the contracts we sign with these providers and ensuring that the obligations described in them give the highest possible level of privacy and security for our members.
Thank you for the detailed explanation of your data protection measures and technical infrastructure. External Cloud Usage for Ticketing (Zendesk on AWS): While I appreciate that no documents are stored directly in Zendesk, sensitive information can still be included in ticket content. A fully on-premise alternative could help avoid this potential vulnerability and provide more transparency regarding storage location and access policies. Use of Gmail for Staff Emails: Using Gmail for internal communication brings additional privacy risks. With emails and internal communication running on Google servers, there’s a chance that metadata and content may be accessible to third parties. A self-hosted solution for internal email communication could offer greater control and might reduce long-term costs, even though the spam filtering and integration with Google tools are understandably appealing. External Service for Identity Verification (iDenfy): Relying on a third party for identity verification, particularly when it involves sensitive documents like passports and IDs, introduces potential data privacy concerns. Although the data is deleted after 14 days, an in-house solution—such as a privacy-compliant, self-hosted service—could mitigate this risk. Cost and Resource Efficiency vs. Data Privacy: I understand the challenges of cost and resource reduction. However, I wonder if, in the long run, adopting more on-premise solutions and open-source software might lead to greater independence, reduced licensing fees, and enhanced security. There are many privacy-friendly, self-hosted alternatives that might initially require more setup but could offer significant long-term benefits to members. Risk-Based Approach and Contractual Control: I appreciate your risk-based approach, yet a stronger self-hosting strategy could reduce reliance on third parties and the need for contractual assurances. Moving towards self-hosting could even become a positive message to RIPE members, showcasing that RIPE actively prioritizes data privacy. In principle, I see no need to use servers from "big tech" for such simple services. -- nemox.net Rudolf E. Steiner r.steiner@nemox.net http://nemox.net/pdat/res/