Data Sovereignty: A Technical Primer

Who Actually Owns Your Data?

In the cloud era, we often forget that “the cloud” is just someone else’s computer. When that computer is owned by a US-based hyperscaler, but located in Frankfurt, the legal lines get blurry. This is the core challenge of Data Sovereignty.

True sovereignty requires three layers:

1. Physical Sovereignty: You know exactly which data center your bytes reside in.
2. Operational Sovereignty: The provider cannot access your data for support or analytics without explicit, temporary permission.
3. Technical Sovereignty: You hold the encryption keys.

Without the third layer, you are renting privacy, not owning it. If a subpoena is issued to your cloud provider, and they hold the keys, they may be forced to decrypt and hand over your data without even notifying you. Dossira’s architecture is built to prevent this scenario, ensuring that you—and only you—wield the power to decrypt your information.