Comments on: Catching the Cloud

By: André

André — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:45:59 +0000

Great article. As someone who works in a rather large US company, I can confirm firsthand how complicated an issue this is. You’d also be surprised how many companies sign contracts without reading them.
I think most companies don’t even realize the legal implications of signing these contracts, on the rare occasions we do get pushback, a common theme is that it’s more marketing related than about legal concerns (i.e. the company doesn’t want to risk bad press by having it revealed their user data is sent and stored to the US). If and when more European companies wake up to this problem, this could be a real game changer for either those who can adapt to European legislation the quickest or European startups that suck up all the business US companies forsake.

By: 5 Fav Business and Strategy Insights #39 | Donald McMichael

5 Fav Business and Strategy Insights #39 | Donald McMichael — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:37:36 +0000

[...] in a 3-screen world they are just as well positioned as anyone else to monetize the content. Catching the Cloud A growing number of companies and individuals are handling their data needs on a remote [...]

By: rightgadgets

rightgadgets — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:00:47 +0000

Keep up the good work. Best of luck. From http://www.rightgadgets.in/items_subcat.asp?Category=Digital%20Camera_India_Online&cid=2&scat=3*

By: Grant Gibson

Grant Gibson — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:57:36 +0000

Marc has got this 100% right. Why beat up US providers? If you want to be protected by European law then host in Europe with a European company. If an affordable option doesn’t exist then you’ve hit a great business opportunity (after all, as you note, a lot of US companies put their data centres outside of the US to save money, so it must be possible).

By: Angelos Karageorgiou

Angelos Karageorgiou — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:04:45 +0000

Well I do apologize but I will tout my own horn for a second here. One big issue among others with cloud services is transparency and auditability of work performed.

Relative link follows , I would greatly appreciate comments.
http://angelicquotes.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/cloud-transparency-service/

By: Yann

Yann — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:07:27 +0000

In short, excellent article.

@Mike
Just waiting for the market to auto-magically correct the service agreement issue is calling for trouble, or a deliberate attempt at keeping the current trend as it is. This was already witnessed countless times, especially in IT (so many industrial software are still sold as if there were a mere “art form” with no guarantee nor any liability, which is simply an abusive practice from the software industry).
Whenever the “market norm” is stabilizing at the provider’s advantage, it will remain so (or worsen) for a long period. There is no incentive for any actor, new or incumbent, to “kill the golden goose” by loosening the unlimited protection of such asymmetrical practices.

Although a bit outside of this monday note’s scope, your comment on data glut is completely correct, and a good reminder of another issue in these thrifty green days.

By: Mike Van Horn

Mike Van Horn — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:05:36 +0000

I feel this issue is overstated. A few comments:

Redundancy. Rule #1 for protecting your data is redundant backups. It’s foolish to rely on one source, including some high-falutin’ cloud service. We use multiple modes of backup, with security of each mode related to how critical the data is.

Competition. Won’t cloud services compete to offer all the features you want European laws to ensure? Transparency, notification, restitution, access, etc. Which approach—market-based or government-based–will better stay on top of market and tech developments? If services start playing lawyer games with customers, customers will flee to competitors who grasp customer service.

Unending proliferation. Most stuff that is backed up is garbage or duplicates. I estimate that 90% of the data we have backed up should be purged. Data glut—and subsequent inability to access what we’re looking for—is a hundred times more costly than loss caused by backup or security breakdown.

By: Fafnir

Fafnir — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:24:38 +0000

“Agreements are written in an obscure form of English” then what about using Bliss? http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_(langage) or a pivot language?

All the matter treated in this article is very important. Why it’s not the focus of political meeting (like the G8 or G20)? or if it’s better to let the private entrepreneurs make their rules they should present them.

By: Stephane

Stephane — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:01:49 +0000

In short, cloud computing has airy legal grounds !

By: Marc Verstaen

Marc Verstaen — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:11:27 +0000

This doesn’t seem to really bother European subscribers. And if it indeed does, why don’t we see a flurry of European services competing with the ones setup by american companies? If there is money to be made, a better service to be provided (at least with better and required protections for the subscribers), then what is preventing European entrepreneurs from creating their own offer? Is it the lack of cash? Possible. Or is it that they could not compete with the prices of the existing offers, in a market where no one wants to pay a higher price for better services?