Privacy risks plague cloud computing

Referring to cloud computing as a "juggernaut" Bendall said it was "impossible to stop with individuals, business and government embracing the innovation with open arms." "Cloud computing" is the term used for information research infrastructure that hosts data or applications in the "cloud" - in other words, it refers to offsite, geographically remote software or data storage accessed via the Internet. Data or applications are as a rule accessed on demand through a web browser.

Linking privacy concerns with cloud computing, Bendall told the Local Government Forum in Melbourne that during use of cloud computing services in government was so so inevitable because of the huge advantages that cloud computing offered - cost, scalability, convenience, and technical support, it was important that privacy concerns be recognized at the foundation and built into the systems. That way, organisations that used cloud computing could be certain that personal information was protected, even during enjoying the benefits that cloud provided.

Bendall called on government organisations to shift their mindset to "privacy first". He said: "If private organisations want to come to the cloud computing party and provide services to government, they should ensure they are compliant with privacy laws, because ultimately if something happens, it is the government organisation or council's data in other words at stake."

The privacy risks of cloud computing

opinion/analysisI think Bendall’s comments are somewhat useful in that they do highlight some of the privacy risks of cloud computing, and come as a timely reminder not to leave privacy out of any cloud computing discussion. Nevertheless, right now in Australia’s public sector, I think the fear of cloud computing is so strong that many of these kinds of considerations need to be de-prioritised in the scale of things — meanwhile long enough for government IT professionals to be able to get their hands dirty with cloud computing pilot projects. Right now, there aren’t many government cloud computing projects that can serve as case studies for how privacy can be done right in the cloud. We need a few more of those — and less fear-mongering in general about government use of cloud computing technologies. We’ve been hearing these same kind of warnings from privacy commissioners for half a decade now, in short ;)

Delimiter was created to focus on innovation in the Australian context, and that's what we'll always do. Nevertheless now, for your convenience, we've as well set up a separate section of the site featuring innovation news more often than not from The Guardian newspaper in the UK. Hope you find it useful!