The Centre for Innovation Law & Policy Workshop series

presents

Christopher Millard

Professor of Privacy and Information Law at Queen Mary, University of London

Cloud Computing Meets Real-World Law

Cloud computing has been attracting a lot of attention lately, in both private and public sectors, as a means of improving efficiency and reducing costs. However, with the rapid development of cloud technologies, and the complexity of the market in terms of service providers and cloud offerings, it can be difficult for organisations and individuals to assess the likely benefits and risks of placing data into any particular cloud environment. Moreover, whereas conventional outsourcing deals are often subject to extensive risk assessment and careful negotiations between the parties, many cloud computing arrangements are set up rapidly and informally, often on the basis of standard 'click through' terms of service and privacy policies. Best practice has yet to emerge and most customers (and indeed suppliers) lack the information needed to benchmark cloud service commitments. This workshop will provide an insight into what is actually happening in the cloud computing market based on a recent comparative analysis of contracts for more than 30 cloud services. Practical recommendations will be made for managing cloud-related risks and a forecast will be given regarding likely future trends.

Christopher Millard is Professor of Privacy and Information Law at Queen Mary, University of London, where he is currently leading a three-year research project investigating legal issues relating to cloud computing. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford and is Of Counsel to the law firm Bristows. Christopher graduated from the University of Sheffield with an LLB (Hons) in 1980, and from the University of Toronto with an MA in Criminology in 1982 and an LLM (which formed the basis for one of the first comparative computer law books) in 1983. He then spent almost 25 years in practice at Clifford Chance and Linklaters, specialising in technology and privacy law, before taking up his current appointments in 2008.He has published widely on privacy, technology and communications law and is joint editor of the International Journal of Law and Information Technology and of International Data Privacy Law (both published by Oxford University Press). He has served as Chair of the Society for Computers and Law, as President of the International Federation of Computer Law Associations and as Co-Chair of the Technology Committee of the International Bar Association.

Lunch will be served.

No RSVP required. For more information, please contact anny.vexler@utoronto.ca.

Sponsored by the Microsoft Law and the Information Society Project.

*For links to relevant materials, see http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1662374 and http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/03_cloud_computing_contracts/03_cloud_computing_contracts.pdf.