Controlling the Clouds: Privacy Laws and Cloud Computing in Canada‘s Legal Sector
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5931/djim.v9i1.3341Keywords:
Information Policy, Cloud Computing, Legal IndustryAbstract
This paper examines both the promises and problems posed by the legal profession‘s adoption of cloud computing platforms in service of its business objectives. Cloud computing models, defined as third party managed software, are rapidly becoming ubiquitous within technology-centric businesses. The legal profession is ostensibly an excellent candidate for the integration of cloud computing models due to its deep-seated information management needs. Nonetheless, this profession finds itself within an unnerving position in the face of government-mandated privacy laws and professional ethical standards that make any compromise of private information potentially devastating to a wide reaching net of stakeholders. Exploring the tenuous line upon which the legal profession treads in relation to cloud computing, the author ultimately concludes that what is most conspicuously absent within this current debate is a developed information policy which would provide the legal industry directives on how it should negotiate its way through this complex issue.
References
Baker, Jonathan. (2011, January). Flying in the clouds: practicing law by cloud computing. Florida Bar Journal, 85(9), 57-59.
Banks, Timothy. (2012, July 31). Cloud computing and the USA Patriot Act: Canadian implications. Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada, 13(3), 20-23. Retrieved from http://www.fmc-law.com/Publications/0712_Cloud_Computing_and_USA_ Patriot_Act.aspx.
Brown, Jesse. (2013, February 6). Cloud hate: why Ottawa keeps losing our data. McLean‘s. Retrieved from http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/06/cloud-hate-why-ottawa-keeps-losing-our-data/
Buckler, Grant. (2011, December 1). Never mind the Patriot Act, watch your thumb drives. ITWorldCanada. Retrieved from http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/never-mind-the-patriot-act-watch-your-thumb-drives/144397
Chabrow, Eric. (2012, March 15). Avoiding pitfalls of cloud contracts. GovInfoSecurity. Retrieved from http://www.govinfosecurity.com/interviews.php?interviewID=1497
Dodek, Adam. (2011). Solicitor-client privileges: challenges for the 21st century. The Canadian Bar Association. Retrieved from http://www.cba.org/CBA/activities/pdf/Dodek-English.pdf
European Parliament: Directorate General for Internal Policies. (2013, January 20). Fighting cyber crime and protecting privacy in the clouds. Retrieved from http://www.europarl. europa.eu/committees/en/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=79050
Foley, John. (2008, August). Private clouds take shape. Information Week. Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/business/209904474
Fraser, David. (2011, April 18). Cloud computing and privacy FAQs. Canadian Cloud Law Blog. Retrieved from http://www.cloudlawyer.ca/2011_04_01_archive.html
Gallagher, Ryan. (2013, January 8). U.S. spy law authorizes mass surveillance of European citizens: report. Slate. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/ 01/08/fisa_renewal_report_suggests_spy_law_allows_mass_surveillance_of_european.html
Himmelsbach, Vawn. (2011, June 8). Canadian cloud contracts: liabilities and limitations. ITWorldCanada. Retrieved from http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/canadian-cloud-contracts-liabilities-and-limitations/143294
Jackson, Brian. (2010, May 20). Canadian firms shy away from cloud computing. Itbusiness.ca. Retrieved from http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News. asp?id=57655
Law Society of British Columbia. (2013, January). Practice resource: cloud computing checklist. Retrieved from http://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/docs/practice/resources/checklist-cloud.pdf
MacLeod, Ian. (2013, February 2). Cloud computing law puts Canadian users at risk of snooping by American spies. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved from http://www.ottawacitizen .com/business/Cloud+computing+puts+Canadian+users+risk+snooping+American/7907562/story.html
Martindale, Nick. (2011, August). In the future, cloud computing will be the only choice. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/technology/microsoft-cloud-computing/8667512/In-the-future-Cloud-Computing-will-be-the-only-choice.html
McKendrick, Joe. (2012, April 30). Cloud could cut $12 billion from US government annual deficit. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2012/04/30/ cloud-could-cut-12-billion-from-us-government-annual-deficit-study/
Mell, Peter, and Grance, Timothy. (2012). The NIST definition of cloud computing. U.S. Department of Commerce‘s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved from http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf
Michel-Adrien. (2011, April 25). Canadian law firms adopting cloud computing. Library Boy: Legal Research News from an Ottawa Law Librarian (Blog). Retrieved from http://micheladrien.blogspot.ca/2011/04/canadian-law-firms-adopting-cloud.html
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2009). Guidelines for processing personal data across borders. Retrieved from http://www.priv.gc.ca/information/guide/ 2009/gl_dab_090127_e.cfm
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2011). PIPEDA and your practice: a privacy handbook for lawyers. Retrieved from http://www.priv.gc.ca/information/pub/gd_phl_ 201106_e.pdf
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2009). Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Retrieved from http://www.priv.gc.ca/leg_c/leg_c_p_e.cfm
Rennie, Steve. (2013, January 17). Government faces class-action lawsuits over student loan borrowers‘ lost data. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/government-faces-class-action-lawsuits-over-student-loan-borrowers-lost-data/article7492261/
Thompson, Graham. (2011, January 20). Cloud computing, the Patriot Act, and you. Ottawa Business Journal. Retrieved from http://www.obj.ca/Opinion/2011-01-20/article-2139749/Cloud-computing,-the-Patriot-Act-and-you/1
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Papers published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management must be the original, unpublished work of the author. Contributors are responsible for obtaining any copyright clearances required in relation to their work.
Authors submitting a paper to the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management automatically agree to grant a limited license to DJIM if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. This license gives permission for DJIM to publish the paper in a given issue and to maintain the work in the electronic journal archive. DJIM also submits issues to institutional repositories and Open Access repositories.
Contributors agree to each reader accessing, downloading, or printing one copy of their article for their own personal use or research. All other copyrights remain with the author, subject to the requirements that any republication of the work be accompanied by an acknowledgement that the work was first published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management and that the DJIM Editorial Chair must be notified of any republication of a work first published in DJIM.
Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management
c/o School of Information Management
Faculty of Management
Dalhousie University
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5
Canada
Email: djim@dal.ca
Authors should recognize that, because of the nature of the Internet, the publisher has no control over unauthorized copying or editing of protected works.