The FTC and Privacy and Security Duties for the Cloud

Author(s): 
Publication Type: 
Other Writing
Publication Date: 
April 7, 2014

Third-party data service providers, especially providers of cloud computing services, present unique and difficult privacy and data security challenges. While many companies that directly collect data from consumers are bound by the promises they make to individuals in their privacy policies, cloud service providers are usually not a part of this arrangement. It is not entirely clear what, if any, obligations cloud service providers have to protect the data of individuals with whom they have no contractual relationship. This problem is especially acute because many institutions sharing personal data with cloud service providers fail to include significant privacy and security protections in the contracts that govern the exchanges. Individuals can thus be placed at the mercy of contracts that they did not negotiate and that offer insufficient protection of their data.

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