In an era where digital sovereignty has gained momentum in Europe, U.S. companies strive to demonstrate their commitment to empowering customers with more control over data storage and processing.
Amazon’s AWS cloud unit recently made its digital sovereignty pledge. TikTok is establishing localized data centers as part of a wider European charm offensive. Even Microsoft and Google are responding to the growing demand to bring data closer to their users’ needs.
It’s therefore unsurprising that Zoom has announced its support for localized data storage in the European Economic Area. Thus it intends to provide premium customers the option to store specific data from webinars, meetings, and team chat tools in local data centers.
Zoom to have a dedicated team for European users
Initially, Frankfurt will serve as the European hub, although Zoom already maintains data centers in Amsterdam, Leipzig, and Zurich. It is worth noting that in exceptional cases about trust and safety, data may still be shared with Zoom’s U.S. operations.
Zoom is globally implementing audit log tracking, enabling company administrators to monitor the exporting and deletion of logs.
In addition, the company has introduced a new tool within the privacy dashboard alongside the data residency feature. This tool assists administrators in addressing data subject access requests (DSAR) and deleting personal data, such as names or email addresses, that may have been collected.
Changing regulatory times
Compliance with regulations like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) underlines the importance of enabling users to access information on the personal data held by a company and request the deletion of specific data.
By enhancing privacy measures and adopting a customer-centric approach, Zoom aims to bolster its standing as a trusted provider in video communication. In the process it should be offering users greater control and peace of mind over their data.