[LINK] Australian clouds are second

stephen at melbpc.org.au stephen at melbpc.org.au
Sun Mar 10 01:23:24 AEDT 2013


Thinking about clouds for commercial purposes. Maybe, in decades to come,
the Companies Act etc will specify that businesses MUST utilize off-site
and registered clouds for ALL company documents. Also, these doc records
MUST be maintained in perpetuity. Thus no 'lost' company documents & all
readily available for scrutiny via court orders if necessary. Also maybe,
in the longer term, even extending such records to internal and external
voice communications, and ALL closely tied to verifiable bank recordings.

Seems this would make breaking the law somewhat difficult even dangerous
for companies. Sure maybe only public companies at first, though why not?

It's not such a stretch technically, and, companies are already required
and/or advised to keep comprehensive records. Seems a logical & painless
next step in the decades to come. Register cloud providers, and, require
they utilize and employ the services of government registered archivists
to ensure that ALL company records are routinely and securely maintained.

So we've absolute company business-transparency for appropriate purposes.

Think of the world reputation for such companies registered in Australia.

Cheers,
Stephen   


> Australia ranked number two in the world for cloud computing
> 
> The twenty-four countries that the BSA evaluated for its cloud scorecard
> account for around 80 per cent of the global ICT market
> 
> By Kenneth Corbin (CIO (US)) 07 March, 2013
>
<http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/455782/australia_ranked_number_two_world_cloud_computing/>
> 
> 
> .. BSA is releasing its second annual Global Cloud Computing Scorecard. 
> 
> This scorecard ranks 24 countries based on seven policy categories:
> data privacy, security, cybercrime, intellectual property, support for
> industry-led standards and international harmonisation of rules,
> promoting free trade, and ICT readiness/broadband deployment.
> 
> "I would say that it is a solid mix. There's been a lot of progress that
> we're very hopeful about," said Chris Hopfensperger, technology policy
> counsel at BSA. "I think the thing that we see though at the end of the
> day is that there's good laws and bad laws and you end up with really
> patchy progress."
> 
> The 24 countries the BSA evaluated for its cloud scorecard account for
> around 80 per cent of the global information and communications
> technology market.
> 
> For the second year in a row, the BSA ranked Japan as the friendliest
> environment for cloud providers, citing high rates of broadband adoption,
> strong laws against cybercrimes and a solid framework to promote security
> and protect users' privacy.
> 
> Australia follows in the number two spot, also unchanged from last year,
> while the United States moved up a position switching places with Germany
> to rank number three on the cloud scorecard.
> 
> The authors of the report attribute that advance more to the ongoing
> development of standards & infrastructure supporting cloud computing than
> any substantive policy measures enacted by the US government.
> 
> Last year's ranking of cloud-friendly countries:
> <http://www.cio.com/article/700597/Ranking_24_Nations_by_Cloud_Policy>
> 
> Of the constellation of policy issues that affect the spread of cloud
> services worldwide, Hopfensperger says that none is greater concern than
> security and privacy. He stressed that consumers & businesses alike will
> be reluctant to shift data to the cloud unless they are confident that
> their information will be adequately protected from cyber attacks and not
> exploited for purposes that they would consider invasive.
> 
> "Privacy & security are probably talked about more than any other [issue]
> for a variety reasons. But they're really two sides of the same coin," he
> says. "Both are key to engendering trust in the cloud. Obviously, cloud
> computing does no good if people don't want to put their data in the
> cloud."
> 
> The October 2012 passage of a privacy law in Singapore helped vault that
> country five spots in the BSA's Cloud rankings, moving up from 10 to
> number 5, making for the biggest single gainer in the scorecard.
> 
> The BSA praises Singapore's law for taking a "light-touch" approach that
> codifies a set of principles intended to affirm individuals' right to
> control their personal information, while at the same time acknowledging
> that cloud providers have a legitimate need to collect, use and even
> disclose that data in certain cases.
> 
> That type of flexible approach, rather than overly prescriptive
> regulations, is critical to nurturing regulatory environment that fosters
> the expansion of cloud-based services, according to the BSA.
> 
> Singapore "took a big step in 2012," Hopfensperger says, "because they
> adopted a privacy law that balances the important consumer protections with
> the need for companies to be able to move data and continue to innovate."
> 
> In contrast, each of the European Union member countries that the BSA
> evaluated in its scorecard slipped at least 1 place, owing in large part
> to the uncertainty associated with an ongoing effort to reform the body's
> privacy laws.
> 
> That debate has aired proposals that alarm the BSA and some of its member
> companies, including the imposition of "new administrative burdens" and
> limitations on providers' ability to review data for security purposes,
> rather than the risk-based, contextual approach to data protection that
> the group advocates.
> 
> BSA also warns against protectionist policies that favor domestic cloud
> providers while subjecting foreign companies to bureaucratic and
> operational requirements.
> 
> Indonesia, for instance, dropped one place to 21 on the BSA's list due to
> new regulations requiring cloud providers to register with a central
> authority & mandating that some set up datacentres in the country staffed
> by local workers.
> 
> The BSA finds similar concerns with other countries that rank poorly on >
scorecards. Indeed, the five countries at the bottom of the list - in
> descending order, South Africa at number 20 trailed by Indonesia, Brazil,
> Thailand and Vietnam - received the lowest scores of any nation on the
> BSA's "supporting free trade" criterion.
> 
> "The real problem areas I think we would say is that some countries
> that are at the bottom of rankings - Indonesia, Vietnam - some of these
> countries are really taking active steps to chop off a piece of the cloud
> for themselves," Hopfensperger says. "These things really run counter to
> what we view as an international approach to cloud policy."
> --
> 
> Cheers,
> Stephen
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