Microsoft has taken a step toward getting the federal government to pay attention to cloud-computing services. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is asking for a cloud-computing law.
Microsoft’s senior vice president and top legal counsel, Brad Smith, has proposed that Congress institute the Cloud Computing Advancement Act to help foster trust in cloud-computing services and address privacy concerns.
“The world needs a safe and open cloud — a cloud that is protected from the efforts of thieves and hackers and also that serves as an open source of information to all people around the world,” Smith said during the Brooks Institution Policy Forum. “Neither goal may be fully achieved today — but we have to keep striving to achieve them over time.”
Cloud computing has received a bad rap from consumers and privacy groups who have found holes in cloud-computing services offered by Internet companies such as Google.
Microsoft, IBM, Google and several other top-tier technology companies see benefits in cloud computing and 86 percent of senior business leaders are excited about cloud computing, according to a Penn Schoen Berland survey commissioned by Microsoft. But those business leaders need to convince Internet application users to see the same benefits.
“We need to build confidence in the cloud,” Smith said. “And that requires a new conversation about the opportunity — and need — for industry and government each to take new steps to move forward.”
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit privacy group, has been vocal about cloud computing. Last March, EPIC filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission against Google, alleging privacy holes in its cloud-computing services, which include Google Docs, Picasa and Gmail.
Security experts and computer researchers, including the European Network and Information Security Agency, have supported EPIC’s findings. An ENISA report considers whether people’s personal data…