specialized Linux hosting question

[Jamon Camisso]

Dave Mason wrote:
> I haven't followed all of the details of this conversation, but I feel
> that I need to point out that linode.com is an american corporation and
> hence falls under the US Patriot Act, which means that the machine is
> subject to secret inspection.  (The fact its servers are spread around
> the US just makes it easier.)  The Patriot Act has very broad definition
> of 'access' with minimal judicial oversight and prevents even informing
> the investigated party (you) that your information has been accessed.
> You might be told that there was a power failure while in reality US law
> enforcement hit the reset button, captured the contents of main memory
> and your disks, and then rebooted your machine.
> 
> If you have any content that US law enforcement might find interesting,
> (and you'd be surprised how broadly that net can be) you may want to
> have it reside on a machine not accessible by US citizens or
> corporations (i.e. a US company with servers in Toronto doesn't help, a
> service contract from a US company could expose you).
> 
> Unfortunately, it is really hard to figure out what providers are not
> encumbered.  I have been looking at http://iweb.com/ but in the corner
> of their web page it says "iWeb Canada" which suggests there may be an
> iWeb US...  And even if it is fully Canadian, (putting my conspiracy hat
> on) if US spooks *really* want access to your data but want to avoid
> that messy break and enter to Canadian premises stuff, they could help
> say linode.com to buy iweb.com, and then invoke their USPA access rights.

iWeb is Montreal based (http://iweb.com/about-us/): "Founded by Martin 
Leclair and Eric Chouinard in October 1996 and headquartered in Montreal 
since 1998, the public company (TSX-V: IWB) has enjoyed a steady growth 
since its inception, currently employing more than 90 talented hosting 
specialists and operating three data centers in the greater Montreal area."

Jamon
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