Legal issues in cloud computing Teemu Mäntylä

Reliability & liability Users expect clouds to be reliable What guarantees are there? Who is responsible for damages? How do you prove the cloud provider is at fault?

Reliability & liability (2) Damages may come from multiple causes: –Service outage –Data/code/result corruption –Data/code/result compromisation Telecommunications law relies on market to drop bad operators, doing the same with clouds is too risky

Security & privacy Data, code and results must all be protected Cloud provider needs to monitor Threats range from pushy advertisers to corporate spies Difference between simple monitoring and malicious data mining can be a fine line

Security & privacy (2) By European laws, personal data may not normally be sent outside the EU, but a cloud provider might subcontract another cloud Foreign government agencies might gain access, even without needing to show cause Care must be taken not to break data protection laws or user contracts

Access & usage Can a licensed program be used in a cloud? License terms vary between countries, with no regard to clouds Who is responsible for illegal activity within the cloud? Expecting cloud providers to monitor for illegal activity big technical problem

Current situation National laws, international clouds Legislation lags behind technology Current laws and cloud providers place all responsibility on the client Clients need to be alert and insist on terms that protect their interests Better clouds might surface if left to market

Example cases Legal issues very much alike between outsourcing services and cloud computing Death by Delete Monopolizing service provider

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