Data privacy and sovereignty:
Why do they matter in
portfolio practice?
Presentation licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0+
Kristina Hoeppner // Catalyst IT
Eportfolio Forum // 24 September 2026
Disclaimer
Where does your data live?
Who can access your data?
Is your data sold?
Does the platform comply?
Data sovereignty & residency
What's the difference?
Data sovereignty
Legal authority
Jurisdiction: 1 country
What's the difference?
Data residency
Physical location
Jurisdiction: 1+ countries
Data sovereignty
Legal authority
Jurisdiction: 1 country
5 sovereignty pillars
1
Your country's legal protection
Your data is governed exclusively by your country's law - no foreign jurisdiction applies.
2
Controlled by local entities
Fully owned by citizens in your country, with all decisions made in your country.
3
Local teams only
Every engineer who can access your data is employed in your country under your local law.
4
Local economic impact
Every dollar you spend drives your local innovation, employment, and growth.
5
Complete authority
Your local leadership makes all decisions about your infrastructure and data access.
Compromise to what's right for you
- Best option for legal protection
- Most freedom for compliance
- May be more costly
Data sovereignty
- Infrastructure convenience
- No guarantee of local legal protection and compliance
Data residency
- Best option for legal protection
- Most freedom for compliance
- May be more costly
Data sovereignty
What can you do?
What do you value?
What is your data policy?
What is your status quo?
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Ask questions
What does change cost?
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Kristina Hoeppner
Mahara Project Lead
forward_to_inbox kristina@catalyst.net.nz
@anitsirk@cloudisland.nz
khoeppner
language catalyst.net.nz
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