Legal Quagmire

If you don't realize by now that Cloud Computing has its risks, at the time, then, you must have your head in the clouds. But straightway again, without risk there is no reward. When you place a bet on the Cloud, you know you're betting on an emerging set of capabilities. And however it be, there are risks everywhere in business. Why should the Cloud be any different?

The risks of the Cloud

Even if you are willing to take on the risks of the Cloud, you must after all do whatever you can to mitigate those risks. And unfortunately, risk means liability, and that means lawyers. To help make sure you and your lawyer are up to speed on all the legal ramifications of Cloud Computing, we've assembled the following list of concerns. Ignore the items on this list at your own peril.

Disputes - If you need to arbitrate with or sue your provider, where do you do that? The business location of the provider may not be the same as the physical location of the data, complicating this issue.

Trade secret & attorney/client privilege protection - If you have privileged information in the Cloud, either trade secrets or attorney communications, at that time making that information available to a third party can remove the privilege-even if the third party in question is just an admin at the provider backing up a server.

The Internet

Liability for breach of privacy - Somehow your confidential data are leaked to the Internet. In accordance with what circumstances is your provider liable for such a breach?

Risk of regulatory change - Mostly, today's regulations that apply to the Cloud were around previously the notion of Cloud Computing took off. Once regulators get a handle on the issues Cloud presents, but, you can expect new regulations to follow-and clearly, it's impossible to fully plan for them.

Salvage rights to data - one day everything seems to be fine, however the at once your provider is out of business, and they're liquidating their assets. That means the servers that held your precious data are now on eBay, and they'll in the near future belong to the highest bidder. To avoid this nightmare scenario, you'll need to put in place some ironclad protections that will survive even a liquidation bankruptcy.

Diverse background in eBusiness research management

Bloomberg has a diverse background in eBusiness research management and industry analysis, including serving as a senior analyst in IDC's eBusiness Advisory group, as then as holding eBusiness management positions at USWeb/CKS and WaveBend Solutions. He as well co-authored the books XML and Web Services Unleashed, and Web Page Scripting Techniques.