Rethinking Cloud Computing Contracts In The Age Of Disruption

The European Commission has set up an expert group on cloud computing contracts with a remit to assist the Commission in identifying "safe and fair contract terms and conditions for cloud computing services for consumers and small firms". At the same time, Microsoft is fighting a US court order to provide federal investigators with emails and data stored in Microsoft's cloud data centre in Dublin. In this article we will analyse ways of rethinking the contracting process for cloud computing in the context of both the findings of the expert group and Microsoft's claims that the law has failed to keep pace with advances in technology.

Pace of technological change

The law is constantly striving to evolve and keep pace with technological change. Over the course of the 20^th century, as the world transitioned from the industrial age into the information age, the law was forced to adapt to address challenges such as the internet, large computer databases of