As more businesses move their infrastructure to the Cloud it becomes increasingly pressing for there to be some fundamental laws laid down in order to specify the rights of both the vendor and consumer.
This was again highlighted recently when Amazon simply deleted the high profile data it was holding for Wikileaks. Whatever your opinion on Wikileaks such an act has been a blow for the reputation of Cloud Computing and may have pushed people perhaps considering entrusting their data to the Cloud, away from the idea.
Cloud services are thus badly in need of a set code of specifications in order for businesses to feel confortable with the level of security and availability on offer.
The notion of a high profile organisation being able to terminate a contract so easily and with no real explanation is a scary one. Amazon’s only statement was that Wikileaks had violated the ‘terms of agreement’ in place.
Furthermore Wikileaks were not just hit from one angle. Paypal terminated the ability for the ‘Wau Holland’ charity Foundation to conduct any transactions after it was revealed that they were supporting Assange and his team.
If a business was subject to such contract termination it would lead to a world of painful litigation. In addition there would be the headache of finding a new service provider.
Should political opinion or governmental bodies really have the power to just pull the plug on businesses without any form of legal proceedings? The move to the Cloud is already a huge uproot for companies with typical concerns of potential outages, sudden changes in price structures or patches of poor performance. Politics adds an extra and unacceptable worry for organisations approaching the Cloud.
Taken to the extreme if we lived in a world where all businesses were based in the Cloud entire sectors of industry could potentially be wiped out with changes in political agenda, without explanation, and with nobody to held accountable.
It is therefore essential that the regulations regarding Cloud Computing are approached. However with many angles to cover and many parties to address, creating proper laws for Cloud Computing is not going to happen overnight.
First and foremost it is essential that whoever your provider there is adequate assurance that they will not take you offline without the proper court injunctions in place.
