1. Facing Risks and Building Trust: Grid and Cloud Adopters and Providers from a Legal Perspective Davide M. Parrilli ICRI – K.U. Leuven – IBBT time.lex Brussels davide.parrilli@law.kuleuven.be

2. Business Experiments in GRID 2 Introdution Lawyer: a person who is very good in indicating problems and who is very bad in proposing solutions to these problems. Often true, but not always – but in this presentation we’ll talk about open issues without solution (yet). Need for open discussion between scientists, practitioners and policymakers.

3. Business Experiments in GRID 3 Risks and Trust (I) Grid and Cloud computing are not riskless, mainly due to its transnational nature: User, service provider and technology provider may be established in different countries; Hardware resources (datacenters) may be dispersed in different countries.

4. Business Experiments in GRID 4 Risks and Trust (II) one set of laws applies with no potential conflicts In pure national scenarios (all previous elements in one country) there are of course less issues and problems – one set of laws applies with no potential conflicts. But still some issues arise: e.g. liability for not-delivery of the services, damages for security failures – are courts able to solve these disputes??

5. Business Experiments in GRID 5 Risks and Trust (III) Consumers are more protected by applicable laws and by courts: the SLAs with them cannot be too unbalanced in favor of the provider. Users: consumers and businesses. Consumer: who uses the Grid or Cloud (and/or the services provided in a Grid or Cloud environment) purely for personal purposes – professional use is excluded!

6. Business Experiments in GRID 6 Risks and Trust (IV) Businesses are basically not protected. Tips: as end user, read always first the SLA! The same applies when service providers buy Grid/Cloud services from a technology provider. Usually the technology provider will shift risks and liabilities to the service provider and the latter will shift them to the end user.

7. Business Experiments in GRID 7 Risks and Trust (V) Critical issues: security and liability – if the SLA does not face and solve them adequately it is difficult to build trust towards service and technology providers. What to do? Industry itself should realize that better contracts are in the interest of everybody – it doesn’t mean less profit bur rather more investments!

8. Business Experiments in GRID 8 Google’s powers (I) A step further: what are big service and technology providers becoming? I.e.: some of the companies that use and develop Grid and Cloud computing are acquiring a huge economic and social power – the Google case. Should we be afraid of this phenomenon?

9. Business Experiments in GRID 9 Google’s power (II) What is Google? A.A company providing services, technology, information, etc etc. B.A new country without atomic bombs but very powerful; C.A new God.

10. Business Experiments in GRID 10 Google’s power (III) The right answer is…no idea! Google has an impact on the way people think, operate, work and live. It generates and affects the knowledge and the information that people have. Quid from the legal point of view?

11. Business Experiments in GRID 11 Google’s power (IV) Google can (reasonably?) think that it is above the law – btw, all lawyers use Google to find laws and decisions… For the very fact that Google operates at global level, it is subject to a huge amount of laws and regulations.

12. Business Experiments in GRID 12 Google’s power (V) Case: Criminal investigation in Milan, Italy – the prosecutor ask Google to disclose data relating to access of Gmail accounts by Google’s clients. Answer: no way! The management of Google decides what data (and to whom) can be disclosed, even when the life and safety of people are in danger.

13. Business Experiments in GRID 13 Google’s power (VI) Behavior to criticize: the laws are supposed to protect the interests of the collectivity, especially when a criminal investigation and trial are involved. Laws (should) follow a democratic process; Google’s decision not.

14. Business Experiments in GRID 14 Google’s power (VII) But…respecting all applicable laws for Google is a huge cost and often it is simply not possible. E.g.: Italian law sets forth certain obligations about retention of users’ data – other laws may set different rules. Which rules shall Google follow??

15. Business Experiments in GRID 15 Google’s power (VIII) Possible answers Possible answers: The law of the country of incorporation of the company shall be always applicable: not implementable (incorporation in ‘law heavens’); The law of the country where the Cloud components are located shall be always applicable: not implementable (and not accepted by E-Commerce Directive);

16. Business Experiments in GRID 16 Google’s power (IX) The law of the country of the recipient of the services or where the services are enjoyed applies: probably the best solution (but in the EU, e.g. in the banking and financial sector, ‘home state’ principle applies – possible in geographical areas with harmonized rules or similar standards).

17. Business Experiments in GRID 17 Google’s power (X) harmonization Solutions: harmonization at global level of rules that apply to transnational providers of information – rules for traditional media are not applicable! There is no unique place where the content is created and stored, and there are many place where access to the content takes place.

18. Business Experiments in GRID 18 Google’s power (XI) taxation Similar (and very important) issue: taxation. All countries would probably like to tax locally the profits generated by Google as much as possible. Problem: how is it possible to calculate the profits generated by Google country per country?

19. Business Experiments in GRID 19 Google’s power (XII) Risk to tax the profits arising from the services supplied via Cloud infrastructures many times (in all countries where Cloud components are located) or never (thanks to a careful tax planning policy).

20. Business Experiments in GRID 20 Conclusions (I) Grid/Cloud computing and the supply of everything as a service (including knowledge and information) is changing the business reality and the mentality of people. The effects of the Grid/Cloud technology, and the way it is deployed, are huge and cannot simply be analyzed and approached with traditional instruments.

21. Business Experiments in GRID 21 Conclusions (II) Do we live in a world without borders? Sometimes yes, and Grid/Cloud computing is a perfect example – but laws and standards are still based on borders. (Btw, Google knows borders too – those imposed by China. Maybe is Google weak with the strong and strong with the weak?)

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