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Lib Dems call for Cloud regulations

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27th Sep 2011
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Cloud Computing has increasingly become mainstream over the past year, but that has not stopped the Liberal Democrats from being twitchy about it – and technology in general.

In a policy document published at the party’s recent autumn conference - Preparing the Ground: Stimulating Growth in the Digital Economy - Cloud comes in for a fair degree of nervousness, with the document arguing:   

“Cloud Computing is an area where, if left unchecked, there is serious potential for abuse – for example, large corporations taking control of enormous quantities of public or private data outside the reach of national law,” said the report. “Cloud is only attractive if it embodies the principles on privacy and data ownership, access, project management and procurement that we have set out elsewhere in this paper.”

The coalition is set to publish a national Cloud Computing strategy next month, and the Lib Dems want the government to “consider the security issues involved with Cloud Computing, particularly regarding data location and segregation” and to work with other governments and international bodies to monitor Cloud suppliers and set “appropriate standards”. Overall the Lib Dems seem to have a wide range of concerns about the threat posed by technological innovation to Liberal values.

The policy document states: “The Digital Economy Act, and the raft of IT projects started by the last government, have amply demonstrated how technological developments can challenge core Liberal Democrat values. There is a danger that these issues are treated by politicians and civil servants alike as technical problems rather than as decisions that properly belong in the political and ethical domain.”

The successful pursuit of Liberalism appears to depend heavily on increased regulation, according to the policy statement. On the subject of net neutrality, the document argues:  “We do not consider it liberal to allow competition on the basis of existing service providers offering different packages based on traffic management that favours one company over another. Instead, it is better to provide a level playing field – where traffic flows at the same speed, whatever the content and whoever owns and operates the website. In order to secure this level playing field, the government must be prepared to regulate.”

But the document insists the party is not “actively seeking” to prevent or undo “illiberal applications of new technology”, but to “create conditions for a more liberal world”.

“We celebrate the way in which IT brings people together, overcoming traditional boundaries. Indeed, we could hardly fail to do so, given the international context of the so-called ‘Arab Awakening’, which has relied so heavily on new forms of communication and the democratising effect of the internet.”

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