What Happens in the Cloud Stays in the Cloud, or Why the Cloud's Architecture Should Be Transformed in 'Virtual Territorial Scope'

Institute for Global Law and Policy 5th Conference (Harvard University, June 3–4, 2013)

37 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2014

Date Written: May 15, 2013

Abstract

The most common used adjective for cloud computing is “ubiquitous”. This characteristic poses great challenges for law, which might find itself in the need to revise its fundamentals. Regulating a “model” of “ubiquitous network access” which relates to “a shared pool of computing resources” (the NIST definition of cloud computing) is perhaps the most challenging task for regulators worldwide since the appearance of the computer, both procedurally and substantially. Procedurally, because it significantly challenges concepts such as “territorial scope of the law” - what need is there for a territorial scope of a law when regulating a structure which is designed to be “abstracted”, in the sense that nobody knows “where things physically reside” ? Substantially, because the legal implications in connection with cloud computing services are complex and cannot be encompassed by one single branch of law, such as data protection law or competition law. This paper contextualizes the idea of a global legal regime for providing cloud computing services, on one hand by referring to the wider context of global governance and, on the other hand, by pointing out several solutions for such a regime to emerge.

Suggested Citation

Zanfir-Fortuna, Gabriela, What Happens in the Cloud Stays in the Cloud, or Why the Cloud's Architecture Should Be Transformed in 'Virtual Territorial Scope' (May 15, 2013). Institute for Global Law and Policy 5th Conference (Harvard University, June 3–4, 2013), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2409006 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2409006

Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna (Contact Author)

Future of Privacy Forum ( email )

United States

Independent ( email )

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