Legal framework for cloud computing

Readers of this blog on innovation policy maybe interested in this commentary from The Conversation. Again as always with these news snippets I have not reproduced the full article - pls follow the link.

From The Conversation

http://theconversation.com/a-new-legal-framework-for-the-age-of-cloud-computing-37055Dan Jerker Author of the original  B. Svantesson Co-Director Centre for Commercial Law at Bond University

The Problem

"Cloud computing, by its very nature, transcends location, geography and territorial boundaries. Data accessed in one country might be stored half way across the world, or even in servers in multiple countries.

International law, on the other hand, sees the world through the lens of various jurisdictions, which are inherently linked to location, geography and territorial boundaries.

So when cloud computing and international law interact, sometimes the results can be highly problematic.

For example, in December 2013 the US government served a search warrant on Microsoft under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. The warrant authorised the search and seizure of information associated with a specific web-based email account that is stored at Microsoft’s premises in Dublin, Ireland."

A New Paradigm

"To move forward, we must recognise that the territoriality principle, and the other Harvard Draft principles, are merely proxy principles for underlying core principles. They were, after all, constructed to reflect the legal practise at the time.

Particularly when we are trying to apply the law to novel phenomena that need to become the subject of clear legal rules, we need to cut away the undergrowth of such proxy principles and identify the core principles that are reflected in them. Only then will we be able to focus on the considerations and values that truly are to be balanced.
It seems to me that the essence of the jurisdictional principles currently used may be distilled into three core principles.

Jurisdiction may only be exercised where:

• there is a substantial connection between the matter and the state seeking to exercise jurisdiction

• the state seeking to exercise jurisdiction has a legitimate interest in the matter

• the exercise of jurisdiction is reasonable given the proportionality between the state’s legitimate interests and other competing (state) interests."

The Silk Road Trial

An update on cybersecurity legal maneuvers.

MOST internet entrepreneurs dream of transforming an industry. On January 13th, one who may have done just that went on trial in federal court in Manhattan, accused of drug-trafficking, money-laundering and operating a criminal enterprise. Ross Ulbricht, a 30-year-old Texan physics graduate, is accused of being “Dread Pirate Roberts”, the founder and administrator of the Silk Road. 

Mr Ulbricht says he was framed: the real Dread Pirates remain at large. His lawyers also claim that the FBI may have used illegal methods to identify and seize the Icelandic server on which the Silk Road was hosted, and from which much of the evidence comes. The FBI says the site contained a vulnerability which revealed where it really was, despite Tor. But several technical specialists think this implausible. Sadly for Mr Ulbricht, it may not matter much. In a ruling in October, a judge concluded that since he has not admitted any legal interest in the Silk Road server, he is unable to claim under the Fourth Amendment that it was illegally searched, and so the evidence from the server is admissible however it was found. This, the judge admitted, “might appear to place Ulbricht in a catch-22”. If he admits to an interest in the server, he would weaken his defence at his trial; if he doesn’t, he has no chance of getting the evidence against him dismissed. 

Mr Ulbricht’s defence, which has been generously funded by online donations, is thus likely to focus on the strength of the evidence linking him to the online activities of Dread Pirate Roberts. Nonetheless, cyber-criminals—as well as other users of the dark web—will be watching closely. Since the Silk Road was taken offline, several similar market-places have been started, and many closed by the authorities. But it is still far from clear whether police forces can crack the anonymity given by technology such as Tor, or how deeply they can legitimately snoop on the web to uncloak the hosts of criminal networks.

From the Economist http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21639525-one-dread-pirate-trial-what-about-others-bitcoin-buccaneers

Carbon trading in the combined California and Quebec Market

From http://www.canadianenergylaw.com/

On November 25, 2014, the California Air Resources Board and Quebec’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change held the first joint auction of greenhouse gas allowances since the two governments linked carbon markets on January 1, 2014 (the Auction). The joint Quebec-California program allows companies to trade carbon allowances across jurisdictions to comply with greenhouse gas emission limits. For example, a Quebec company could purchase allowances from a certified greenhouse gas emissions reduction project in California to comply with provincial targets, and vice versa. Supporters of the program expect the linkage will improve trade liquidity in both markets.

The Auction, which was oversubscribed, sold out of all 23,070,987 2014 vintage allowances for $12.10 per allowance, an increase of $0.76 over this year’s $11.34 floor price. Another 10,787,000 2017 vintage allowances also sold out at $11.86 per allowance. Each allowance permits the release of 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide. The vintage year refers to the year in which the carbon reduction takes place by the certified greenhouse gas emissions reduction project.

During the Auction, companies submit confidential bids for a specified number of allowances. The highest bidder is awarded permits first, then the second-highest, and so on until all allowances for sale have been accounted for. All bidders then pay the price of the lowest winning bidder. Proponents are optimistic that the Quebec-California program is paving the way for a North American market-based solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with hopes that it will serve as a model for other provinces, states and countries in the future.

http://www.canadianenergylaw.com/2014/12/articles/climate-change/quebec-and-california-hold-first-joint-auction-of-greenhouse-gas-allowances/ 

Woops: charging for news copyright in Spain

LONDON — Google News is saying goodbye to Spain.

The website, which compiles headlines and summaries of news articles from various sources, will go dark in Spain on Dec. 16. Google plans to shut the site there in protest of a new law that would force the company and other news aggregators to pay Spanish publishers for the use of their content.The rules, which come into force in January, do not specify how much Google and others like Yahoo News would have to pay per article. But they carry a potential one-time $750,000 fine if companies do not comply with the law.

 The legislation follows similar rules in other countries, including France and Germany, that allow publishers to charge when parts of their articles are included in Google’s news aggregation. In those countries, the company has tended to come to terms with the publishers, rather than withdraw from the field. But the Spanish rule will not allow local publishers to forgo such payments.

And in the case of Spain, it is not clear what parties, if any, will benefit from the new rules.

While the law is aimed at providing much-needed revenue to Spanish publishers, which are struggling to generate income from their online offerings, the loss of Google News and the traffic that it sends to local newspapers may end up hurting publishers that often rely on the company’s service to direct people to their websites. In Germany, some publishers have opted to waive their right to demand fees, rather than lose the traffic Google sends their way.

But Google’s dominance of Europe’s online world — its search business holds a market share of about 85 percent, bigger than in the United States — has European officials trying to rein it in.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/google-to-drop-its-news-site-in-spain/?_r=0


According to BBC Tech Tent http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02dk0t5 broadcast 12 Dec 2014 the proponents of the law in Spain, following Google's withdrawal started to suggest the law should be reversed because they have seen that the lack of traffic will be more costly that the income potential from Google.

Policy Velocity 2014 Year in Review

So what topics were discussed in this blog during 2014?

Topics	Number of times covered
Cybersecurity	4
Drones	4
New vehicles	3
Policy issues	3
Nanotechnology	2
Digital	2
Uber	2
Mining	1
Labour markets	1
Bitcoin	1

So Cybersecurity and drones were tied for equal place. I think with recent high profile cases such as the Sony hacking this is completely appropriate, perhaps even a little under covered here.

Drones may have been a bit of surprise for some readers, but it seems important, coming up again in the Economist Technology Quarterly in December 2014.


My reading of the velocity of the relevant technologies is depicted here.

So to analyse...

	Direction of change	Rate of change	Policy Implications
New vehicles	There is no doubt that the new vehicle transport represents a discontinuous change. For example look at where it is implemented already – the Australian mining industry.	However the rate of change is slow.	There is time to develop appropriate policies but it needs to be taken seriously now.
Mining	The mining industry has been on the track to reduce labour and replace it with capital for decades, although the new technologies will speed this up. The possibility of remote mining control is not a new direction as such but it will be disruptive.	The rate of change is slow but technologies will often be adopted in large industrial contexts such as mining first.	Mining should be understood as a great laboratory for policy experiments. What policies will and won’t work in other context – autonomous vehicles/ drones etc.
Drones	The technology obviously offers new possibilities but the degree to which the technology can deliver on the current hype is open to question.	The pace of change is certainly there, it is not slow but neither is it terribly fast. Some extraordinary capabilities obviously exist – just about any aircraft can be automated. However, the drones which are getting the media attention do not yet have the power capabilities to really ‘deliver’.	If this analysis is accurate then governments have some time to play at new policies – more perhaps than the news reporting. But neither do they have a long time to sit back and ‘see what happens’. It is happening.
Digital policy	It takes no reinforcing here that the general trend of digital technology is definitely disruptive.	Similarly, the rate of change is fast.	I am often surprised that governments around the world are not devoting more brain power to the topic.
Cybersecurity	We have been seriously fighting cybersecurity issues for more than a decade and a half. The direction seems no different.	The rate of change seems to be picking up, however. It seems that NO system is safe from hacking.	This URGENT – what more can be said.
Bitcoin	True possibilities for disruption – destabilising currencies is always a big deal. It is not yet delivering on that promise, but if bitcoin gets linked with tax havens and there will be important issues for tax agencies around the world.	Bitcoin, is just the first cybercurrency. Others exist and more will come.	The announcement by the Bank of Canada is really important policy step forward.
Uber	How much more disruptive can change be than Uber. With the prospect of quickly disrupting thousands of jobs in the near future needs to be understood.	The rate of change for this technology is potentially very fast.	This topic requires economic, sociological, policy, legal, labour market analysis amongst others. Debates over Uber desperately need facts not rhetoric and pure politics.

Money is not static because it is a technology

Each time the technology of money changes what it is - its essence seems to change with it. Its not that money is transformed by technology it is a technology and  therefore some of the same rules that apply to other technologies apply to it. This is almost entirely ignored by economists. However, cryto-currencies are sure going make this impossible to ignore any longer.

The Bank of Canada has announced that it will be doing its own watching and analysis of digital money.

Two links: this one http://www.bankofcanada.ca/2014/11/money-digital-world/

and this one http://www.bankofcanada.ca/2014/11/keeping-close-eye-e-money-carolyn-wilkins/

I'll watch this space with interest.

Cryto-currencies may be moving slightly slower than other technologies at the moment but for money its changing its landscape at high velocity

FAA drone update

25 September 2014

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has granted regulatory exemptions to six aerial photo and video production companies, the first step to allowing the film and television industry the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System.  Secretary Foxx made the announcement on a conference call with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Chris Dodd, chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. 

Secretary Anthony Foxx also determined that the UAS to be used in the proposed operations do not need an FAA-issued certificate of airworthiness based on a finding they do not pose a threat to national airspace users or national security. Those findings are permitted under Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012.

“Today’s announcement is a significant milestone in broadening commercial UAS use while ensuring we maintain our world-class safety record in all forms of flight,” said Secretary Foxx. “These companies are blazing a trail that others are already following, offering the promise of new advances in agriculture and utility safety and maintenance.”

https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=17194