From soup to search warrants

We talk a lot about how we store encrypted data on our servers, and you’re the only one with access to the key. To us, your data on our servers is a big jumbled block of ones and zeros.

Imagine a very special can of alphabet soup. With your magic can opener — your private key — the complete works of Shakespeare fall out of the can, perfectly organized in tomato bisque. Without the magic opener it’s just an aluminum can that nobody can see inside. And even if they cracked it open with a hammer, let’s say, the contents would just be a scrambled mess of noodles.

So it’s a bit concerning when people you don’t know also have magic can openers. Other cloud storage providers, like Microsoft, Dropbox, and Google, all have keys to your data. And last month, a judge in New York ruled that search warrants in the U.S. extend to digital information — even if that information wasn’t stored in the U.S.

Here in Toronto, we know that this (and other, domestic laws surrounding subpoenas for digital information) applies to us as well. As good citizens, we’re prepared to cooperate with law enforcement when absolutely necessary, but not at the expense of protecting our users’ private information.

If, hypothetically, we were served with one of these search warrants for a user’s data, we would be compelled to turn over that data, and we would. What we would hand over, however, would be that metaphorical magic can of soup — utterly useless without the opener.

Since you are the only one with the key, we can’t turn that over as part of a legal request for information either — simply because we don’t have it. It’s the primary way we keep your data private only to you.

Storage providers like Microsoft, Dropbox, and Google keep a copy of your private key. Judicially, they can be compelled to hand that over too, allowing access to your data, for better or worse.

Providing the safest, most private place to store your data online is paramount. Our entire datacenter is designed from the ground up to keep your data only yours — regardless of who’s asking for it.