Trust in the Clouds
Computer Law & Security Review 28 (2012) 513-521
9 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2013
Date Written: July 15, 2012
Abstract
The "cloud" is not new, and its roots go back to the original plans for computing from the 1950s. Now that computing is moving back to the original cloud-based models that were envisioned more than 60 years ago, with it, consumers are realizing the increases in security and safety that accompany the move to centralized servers. Yet the perception of “trust” in this context is often still formed by views that people have from their use of computers over the past two decades, which is localized in nature (“if I can see it, I can control it”). This view is based on perception more than fact. Our paper discusses different views of trust in other contexts (such as banking and travel) and concludes that users of cloud computing should recast their view of trust in a similar way that consumers of banking and travel have changed their perceptions of trust in the last 100 years.
Keywords: regulation of the cloud, trust and technology, risk and the cloud, Patriot Act, the minitel, data sharing, data obfuscation
JEL Classification: K23, L5, L96
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation