Focusing on the privacy and security issues raised by the emerging web technologies

Jan 5, 2010 11:17 GMT  ·  By
In a filing with the FCC, the FTC is revealing its focus on the privacy and security issues raised by the emerging web technologies like cloud computing
   In a filing with the FCC, the FTC is revealing its focus on the privacy and security issues raised by the emerging web technologies like cloud computing

Cloud computing is a hot term of 2009, though it's one of the most abused as well. As a concept, cloud computing doesn't have a clear definition yet and its meaning has evolved from its initial designation to encompass almost every form of web-based product. Even so, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now starting an investigation on the privacy and security issues posed by the new tools and services which it labels as 'cloud computing'.

The upcoming investigation was revealed in a filling with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uncovered by The Hill. In the filing, the FTC says it recognizes the advantages of cloud computing but is concerned by some issues it poses. "However, the storage of data on remote computers may also raise privacy and security concerns for consumers," David Vladeck, the head of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau, wrote.

"For example, the ability of cloud computing services to collect and centrally store increasing amounts of consumer data, combined with the ease with which such centrally stored data may be shared with others, create a risk that larger amounts of data may be used by entities not originally intended or understood by consumers," the filing says.

While there are some legitimate reasons for concern the FTC will have to tread lightly as it may end up significantly disrupting businesses and also users who rely on the web services. The first issues is that the FTC casts a seemingly broad net when referring to cloud computing.

Strictly speaking, the term would be fit for services which abstract the hardware layer and offer customers flexible computing power and storage. There are a number of big players in this emerging field, like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others. These types of services are generally aimed at enterprises and companies which need computing power but don't want or can't afford to have their own data center.

The problem is that the term is also being applied to this type of solutions hosted on a company's own internal data center, sometimes called an 'internal cloud'. Going further, the 'cloud' label is starting to be used for generic web services aimed at regular users, things like Google Docs, or SaaS solutions like those from Salesforce.com. Thankfully, the FTC is holding a roundtable on January 28 to discuss the privacy implications of cloud computing which should make the agency's intentions clearer. The meeting will also focus on other aspects of the emerging web ecosystem like identity management, mobile computing and social networking.