# Data haven
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{{Short description|Refuge for unregulated data}}
A '''data haven''', like a [corporate haven](/source/corporate_haven) or [tax haven](/source/tax_haven), is a [refuge](/source/Safety) for uninterrupted or unregulated [data](/source/data).[{{cite news | url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/06/icelands_media_law | newspaper=The Economist | title=The Switzerland of bits | date=June 17, 2010 | access-date=July 13, 2017 | archive-date=February 2, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202064442/https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/06/icelands_media_law | url-status=live }}][{{cite news | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2013/07/04/gov-spying-boosts-swiss-data-center-revenues/ | work=Forbes | title=Gov Spying Boosts Swiss Data Center Revenues | date=April 7, 2013 | access-date=August 26, 2017 | archive-date=February 5, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205124951/http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2013/07/04/gov-spying-boosts-swiss-data-center-revenues/ | url-status=live }}][{{cite web|url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/02/iceland-aims-to-become-an-offshore-haven-for-journalists-and-leakers/|title=Iceland aims to become an offshore haven for journalists and leakers|publisher=|access-date=2010-12-30|archive-date=2010-02-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216001107/http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/02/iceland-aims-to-become-an-offshore-haven-for-journalists-and-leakers/|url-status=live}}] Data havens are locations with [legal environment](/source/law)s that are friendly to the concept of a [computer network](/source/computer_network) freely holding data and even protecting its content and associated information. They tend to fit into three categories: a physical [locality](/source/nation) with weak information-system enforcement and [extradition](/source/extradition) laws, a physical locality with intentionally strong protections of data, and [virtual](/source/Virtuality) domains designed to secure data via technical means (such as [encryption](/source/encryption)) regardless of any legal environment.
[Tor](/source/Tor_(anonymity_network))'s [onion space](/source/.onion), [I2P](/source/I2P) (both hidden services), [HavenCo](/source/HavenCo) (centralized), and [Freenet](/source/Freenet) (decentralized) are four models of modern-day virtual data havens.
==Purposes of data havens==
Reasons for establishing data havens include access to [free political speech](/source/Freedom_of_speech) for users in countries where [censorship](/source/Internet_censorship) of the [Internet](/source/Internet) is practiced.
Other reasons can include:
* [Whistleblowing](/source/Whistleblower)
* Distributing [software](/source/software), data or speech that violates laws such as the [DMCA](/source/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act)
* [Copyright infringement](/source/Copyright_infringement)
* Circumventing [data protection](/source/Information_privacy) laws
* [Online gambling](/source/Online_gambling)
* [Pornography](/source/Pornography)
* [Cybercrime](/source/Cybercrime)
* [Privacy](/source/Privacy)
* Geopolitical tension
==History of the term==
The 1978 report of the British government's Data Protection Committee expressed concern that different [privacy](/source/privacy) standards in different countries would lead to the transfer of personal data to countries with weaker protections; it feared that Britain might become a "data haven".[{{cite news|last=Michael|first=James|title=New Report on Computer Data Banks|work=[New Scientist](/source/New_Scientist)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tTs5-WSNM6AC&pg=PA432|date=November 9, 1978|accessdate=November 29, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}] Also in 1978, Adrian Norman published a mock consulting study on the feasibility of setting up a company providing a wide range of data haven services, called "Project Goldfish".[{{cite web
|url=http://www.adminet.co.uk/clients/ANAAL/goldfish.pdf |url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903080638/http://www.adminet.co.uk/clients/ANAAL/goldfish.pdf
|archive-date=2011-09-03
|last=Norman |first=Adrian
|title=Project Goldfish
|publisher=IPC Science and Technology Press
|date=September 1978
}}]
Science fiction novelist [William Gibson](/source/William_Gibson) used the term in his novels ''[Count Zero](/source/Count_Zero)'' and ''[Mona Lisa Overdrive](/source/Mona_Lisa_Overdrive)'', as did Bruce Sterling in ''[Islands in the Net](/source/Islands_in_the_Net)''. The 1990s segments of [Neal Stephenson](/source/Neal_Stephenson)'s 1999 novel ''[Cryptonomicon](/source/Cryptonomicon)'' concern a small group of entrepreneurs attempting to create a data haven.
==See also==
* [Corporate haven](/source/Corporate_haven)
* [Crypto-anarchism](/source/Crypto-anarchism)
* [International Modern Media Institute](/source/International_Modern_Media_Institute)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
Category:Computer law
Category:Anonymity networks
Category:Crypto-anarchism
Category:Internet privacy
Category:Data laws
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Data haven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_haven) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_haven?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.