Re: The "It's Not Cloudy In The Cayman Islands" Work-Around for the CLOUD Act
"Hand the 'Key Encryption Keys' over to an external person-in-trust."
This is vaguely what happens in MS's German setup. I haven't read of them doing that elsewhere. I'd have thought they'd have rolled that out everywhere else in the EU starting in Ireland.
Or go a bit more drastic.
1. Have non-US citizens set up a company in a privacy-favouring country.
2. Hand over to the new comapny the the operation of the non-US DCs as a franchise operation with strict contract conditions forbidding MS any access that would break local laws.
3. Separate off US sales and operations as a local US franchise in the same way. Likewise, separate any other stuff such as development that they want to stay in the US into a local company that provides such services under contract.
4. The non-US company takes over Microsoft Corporation on a share exchange. In effect the former MS shareholders become the shareholders of the new corporation which holds all MS's IP etc, which is listed on a non-US stock exchange and which isn't subject to US legislation and doesn't pay US taxes. Only the rump businesses in the US are subject to US law and taxes. Any MS officers who don't want to move overseas can become officers of the rump businesses; the fees paid by the non-US MS can cover their pay but they don't get to order about the new non-US business and can't be used by the US to coerce that business.
5. Other US corporations look at the arrangements, realise it's the way to do business with the world at large and follow suit.
6. Nice little tech industry you had there, US. Pity something nasty happened to it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
