Globalization and it's discontents?

Two interesting pieces on how globalised we really are and what does data localisation actually mean?

Financial Times reports on the nationality of some top executives of global firms and how that can be relevant seems to be jarring in a world where large corporations work across borders- and the reason is political tensions across the world.

There is a risk that foreign-born decision-makers may have a strong allegiance to their country of origin, one that puts them at odds with their company.

Data localitsaion is major issue in ecommerce negotiations. Data should be stored locally, within borders. So while globalisation is important, data localisation would mandate that data of a country's citizens should not cross borders. What this actually means comes out in a NYT's article of Apple and China - a large physical data centre being built in Guiyang, China to store all data of Apple phone users in China.

In China, Apple has ceded legal ownership of its customers’ data to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data, or GCBD, a company owned by the government of Guizhou Province, whose capital is Guiyang. Apple recently required its Chinese customers to accept new iCloud terms and conditions that list GCBD as the service provider and Apple as “an additional party.” Apple told customers the change was to “improve iCloud services in China mainland and comply with Chinese regulations.”

Globalization and its discontents?