About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


29 Va. J.L. & Tech. 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/vjolt29 and id is 1 raw text is: VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF LAW & TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 29 SUMMER 2025 NUMBER 1 STORM CLOUDS ARE BUILDING: SURVEILLANCE, SOVEREIGNTY, AND STATE INTERESTS+ Johan David Michels,* Christopher Millard,** and Ian Walden*** IN thispaper, we examine how the use offoreign cloud serviceproviders by organisations can impact both State sovereignty and State interests. We focus on European concerns about the threat which US cloud providers pose to European 'digital sovereignty'. To that end, we identify how the USgovernment's exercise of legalpowers over US cloud-providers canpose risks to the confidentiaity and availabiliy of European customer data. We then explore how such risks relate to notions of sovereignty. We argue that European concerns are not primarily about a State's sovereignty over its territory. Instead, the concerns are really about undermining State interests, including Europe's abiliy to control European data (so-called 'data sovereignty); and its ability to pursue its own geopolitical interests independently (so-called 'strategic autonomy). We compare these concerns to the current controversy surrounding the use of TikTok by American citizens. Lastly, we examine poliy measures aimed at addressing digital sovereignty concerns, including the attempt to design 'sovereign' cloud services and to build a European federated cloud. We conclude that European and USpoliymakers share similar concerns + This paper has been produced by members of the Cloud Legal Project, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. The authors are grateful to Microsoft for the generous financial support that has made this project possible. The authors would like to thank all participants in a workshop held in December 2023 for sharing their views on an early draft, and Dr Jessica Shurson for chairing the discussion. Responsibility for views expressed, however, remains with the authors. * Researcher and PhD Candidate, Cloud Legal Project, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. ** Professor of Privacy and Information Law and Principal Investigator, Cloud Legal Project, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London and Senior Counsel, Bristows LLP. *** Professor of Information and Communications Law and Principal Investigator, Cloud Legal Project, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London and solicitor and Of Counsel to Baker McKenzie. 1 © 2025 Virginia Journal of Law & Technology, at http://www.vjolt.org/.