Brad Smith, a senior attorney for Microsoft, is urging US lawmakers to write new laws that applicable to today’s cloud computing marketplace.   As he spoke to Congress on Wednesday about cloud computing, he discussed the importance of providing protection to both consumers and businesses.  In a speech at the Brookings Institute in the capital he proposed a Cloud Computing Advancement Act.   Smith also shared opinions in a piece that he wrote for the Huffington post in which he said, "While the benefits of these new [cloud computing] technologies are clear - accessing data at your fingertips whenever and wherever you want - these benefits also come with challenges. The recent security breaches reported by Google last week once again make this abundantly clear.”  "We need a safe and open cloud - a cloud that is protected from the efforts of thieves and hackers while also serving as an open source of information to all people around the world," he stated.

Microsoft has opened data centers global which contain vast amounts of data which contain large amounts of business and consumer data. Smith went on to say that "The internet should not be a 'town square,' where anyone wandering the street can get a peek at what you are doing. But current law is not clear about how to deal with privacy concerns as they relate to the cloud. Users' privacy is something that businesses, governments, consumers, and other key stakeholders must seriously address.”  The Cloud Computing Advancement Act advocated by Smith would update the Electronic Communications Privacy by improving privacy protection and data access rules. Meanwhile Microsoft is also promoting an overhaul of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which would enable police and law environment to pursue hackers and online criminals.

Related Link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/21/brad_smith_cloud_computing_microsoft/