Authors: Damon C. Andrews, John M. Newman
Abstract:
Cloud computing has revolutionized how society interacts with, and via, technology. Though some early detractors criticized the “cloud” as being nothing more than an empty industry buzzword, we contend that by dovetailing communications and calculating processes for the first time in recorded history, cloud computing is — both practically and legally — a shift in prevailing paradigms. As a practical matter, the cloud brings with it a previously undreamt-of sense of location independence for both suppliers and consumers. And legally, the shift toward deploying computing ability as a service, rather than a product, represents an evolution to a contractual foundation for all relevant interactions.
Already, substantive cloud-related disputes have erupted in a variety of legal fields, including personal privacy, intellectual property, and antitrust, to name a few. Yet before courts can confront such issues, they must first address the two fundamental procedural questions of a lawsuit that form the bases of this Article — first, whether any law applies in the cloud, and, if so, which law ought to apply. Drawing upon novel analyses of analogous Internet jurisprudence, as well as concepts borrowed from disciplines ranging from economics to anthropology, this Article seeks to supply answers to these questions. To do so, we first identify a set ofnormative goals that jurisdictional and choice-of-law methodologies ought to seek to achieve in the unique context of cloud computing. With these goals in mind, we then supply structured analytical guidelines and suggested policy reforms to guide the continued development of jurisdiction and choice of law in the cloud.
Full text: Digital Commons Network
pdpEcho 
What Happens in the Cloud Stays in the Cloud, or Why the Cloud’s Architecture Should Be Transformed in ‘Virtual Territorial Scope’
This is the paper I presented at the Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy 5th Conference, on June 3-4, 2013. I decided to make it available open access on SSRN. I hope you will enjoy it and I will be very pleased if any of the readers would provide comments and ideas. The main argument of the paper is that we need global solutions for regulating cloud computing. It begins with a theoretical overview on global governance, internet governance and territorial scope of laws, and it ends with three probable solutions for global rules envisaging the cloud. Among them, I propose the creation of a “Lex Nubia” (those of you who know Latin will know why 😉 ). My main concern, of course, is related to privacy and data protection in the cloud, but that is not the sole concern I deal with in the paper.
Abstract:
You can download the full text of the paper following this link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2409006
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Posted in Academic Resource, Comments, DP Fundamentals, Europe, News, US and Canada, World
Tagged cloud computing regulation, convention 108 and cloud computing, data protection in cloud computing, Gabriela Zanfir, lex nubia, privacy in the cloud, virtual territorial scope, what happens in the cloud stays in the cloud, WTO and cloud computing, zanfir cloud computing