Microsoft is urging the U.S. Congress and the information technology industry to act now to ensure that the burgeoning era of cloud computing is guided by an international commitment to privacy, security and transparency for consumers, businesses and government.
During a keynote speech to the Brookings Institution policy forum, Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel at Microsoft, called for a national conversation about how to build confidence in the cloud and proposed the Cloud Computing Advancement Act to promote innovation, protect consumers and provide government with new tools to address the critical issues of data privacy and security. Smith also called for an international dialogue on data sovereignty to guarantee to users that their data is subject to the same rules and regulations, regardless of where the data resides.
Microsoft's proposed legislation calls for the following:
- Improvements in privacy protection and data access rules to ensure users' privacy, starting with reforming and strengthening the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to clearly define and provide stronger protections for consumers and businesses;
- Modernization of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act so law enforcement has the tools it needs to go after malicious hackers and deter instances of online-based crimes;
- Truth-in-cloud-computing principles to ensure that consumers and businesses will know whether and how their information will be accessed and used by service providers and how it will be protected online;
- Pursuit of a new multilateral framework to address data access issues globally.
