Cloud Computing Poses E-Discovery, Legal Risks

“The 2006 e-discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure (FRCP) changed the legal and corporate information
landscape, putting custody and control at top of mind.

“”Cloud computing means that data may always be in transit,”
said Teppler, “never anywhere, always somewhere.”

“And that creates a big challenge for corporate counsel. How can
they identify “who, when and where” in the cloud? How can
organizations handle document retention? And to add another layer
of worry, information targeted for the cloud may also be subject to
laws requiring privacy and persistent data integrity, and other
requirements that the storage manager may not even be aware of.

“Teppler spelled out the top cloud computing shortcomings: no
native security attributes; inadequate or no security provisioning
by providers; the lack of understanding of cloud legal issues (a
real problem for not only cloud computing providers, but also
corporate counsel and IT consultants); and the failure to recognize
potential liability from either legal issues or a lack of
security.”

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