Terms of Service Analysis for Cloud Providers
The paper by Simon Bradshaw, Prof Christopher Millard and Prof Ian Walden reporting on this research is available via
This research has also been published as follows:
- Watching Cloud Contracts Take Shape, Computers & Law, 27 Jan 2011
- The Terms They Are A-Changin'..., Brookings Institution, Issues in Technology Innovation Number 7, March 2011
- Cloud computing contracts and services: What's really happening?, ComputerWorldUK, 17 March 2011
- Contracts for clouds: comparison and analysis of the Terms and Conditions of cloud computing services, International Journal of Law and Information Technology (2011) 19 (3): 187-223. doi: 10.1093/ijlit/ear005 (subscriber-only access), published online 20 July 2011.
Cloud computing offers an attractive solution to customers keen to acquire computing infrastructure without large up-front investment, particularly in cases where their demand may be variable and unpredictable. But the greater flexibility of a Cloud computing service as compared with a traditional outsourcing contract is balanced by less certainty for the customer in terms of the location of data placed into the Cloud and the legal foundations of any contract with the provider. This research topic comprised a detailed survey and analysis of the Terms and Conditions offered by Cloud computing providers.