Question

Does cloud Computing Have a Nationality?

The law underlying the case against Microsoft is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which was enacted three years before the invention of the World Wide Web. Should that law still apply today? Why or Why not?

Answer 1

The case mentioned in the questions is about the US government wanting certain emails sent from a Hotmail account in Ireland which could be helpful in a narcotics case in the US. Microsoft refuses to provide the emails, citing that it is stored in a foreign location and hence cannot be subpoenaed by the US courts.

Upon learning and understanding about the above case, it becomes quite evident that there is an urgent need to bring revisions to the existing laws or enact new laws related to the internet and the data available on cloud platforms. This is because, in the past 2 decades, the internet has changed the world beyond recognition. The information and data can be shared easily, quickly and can be stored without any physical storage.

This makes the job of investigative agencies tougher as there is no hard evidence to collect proofs in criminal cases. The laws should help them in conducting a thorough investigation with the help of tools that could be used to obtain information available on the internet. On the other end of the spectrum, we have rights to privacy of the citizens who want their data to be private and secure from any kind of investigation or exposure. Exposing or giving such information to the agencies by the companies can undermine the trust and confidence of the consumers and will hamper the growth of the company in the industry.

Therefore, keeping all these factors in mind, it is necessary to bring in laws, regulation, and policies which could help in effective management of the data stored over cloud without compromising the citzirens' right to privacy.