The Cloud Computing Advancement Act? Posted By Daniel Kaiser, Esq. on March 15, 2010
The question: Is it just a pep talk to encourage someone else to act? Or does an actual draft of the proposed bill exist somewhere in Microsoft’s corporate legal department?
In January, Brad Smith (General Counsel of Microsoft) spoke at Washington, D.C.’s Brookings Institution Policy Forum here in Washington. Mr. Smith came to Washington to speak with academics and industry leaders about something dear to Microsoft’s heart – cloud computing.[1] Urging the importance of a “safe and open cloud,” a need more recently underscored by the heavy impact of shadowy hackers on cloud computing, corporate security and international relations, Smith urges the passage of new legislation to “promote innovation, protect consumers, and provide the Executive Branch with the new tools needed for a new technology era” including the following:
- Improvements in privacy protection and data access rules to ensure users’ privacy, starting with reforming and strengthening the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to clearly define and provide stronger protections for consumers and business;
- Modernization of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act so law enforcement has the tools it needs to go after malicious hackers and deter instances of online-based crimes;
- Truth-in-cloud-computing principles to ensure that consumers and businesses will know whether and how their information will be accessed and used by service providers and how it will be protected online;
- Pursuit of a new multilateral framework to address data access issues globally.[2]
It’s interesting to note that Mr. Smith pitched alternative approaches to regulating the industry: an industry level self-regulatory code vs. federal law administered by a federal agency (such as the F.T.C.). To me, this suggests that no bill yet exists to present to Congress. I have no doubt that when it’s ready to go it will be getting plenty of attention.
[1] The full text of Mr. Smith’s speech can be found here: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/library/20100120smithspeech.pdf
[2] Elements taken from http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/jan10/1-20BrookingsPR.mspx.
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