The EU plans to leverage the�����������Dz�������into a golden “digital single market” economy, including a GDP boost of 957 billion euros and 3.8 million jobs by 2020. The report addresses outstanding concerns, clarifies policy and regulatory aspects of the strategy, and sets key actions to assert Europe's future as a “world cloud computing powerhouse”. Whether one�����ǰ���, those in technology, regulatory, and business law would do well to prepare for likely squalls ahead.

First, the strategy involves “cutting through the jungle of standards”—a 27-nation-jungle with all manner of cloud-inhibiting flora, including differing legal frameworks, inconsistent criteria, uncertain jurisdiction, and lack of clear standards. The EC plans to respond with an overarching regime in which cloud providers may obtain certification to reassure clients that they meet set standards of, e.g., interoperability, data portability, and security, and adhere to all relevant laws. Here, problems may arise where ideal cloud standards like seamless transborder accessibility clash with existing legal standards such as transborder data flow restrictions.

Second, there are jurisdictional landscapes abroad to contend with. Conflict of laws figures large in a cloud computing future. Europe will have to collaborate with other countries on issues such as law enforcement, cybercrime,��, and competition; and vice versa.��Take Canada, for instance.����first established transjurisdictional enforcement: one province's court may enforce and recognize judgement from another province if there is a “real and substantial connection between the wrongdoing and the jurisdiction”.����extended this test to foreign jurisdictions, which����applied to enforce a New 91��ɫ copyright decision against an Ontario movie-downloading website. Imagine the complications if, for example, a Vancouver start-up using a Melbourne cloud provider with servers in Berlin were found to have violated () German privacy laws. (Conversely,����confirmed that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has jurisdiction over foreign businesses or websites if there is a real and substantial connection to Canada and the subject matter is within the office's purview.)

Despite����having brought Canada's privacy laws��, further����with the United States may put Canada's privileged position at risk, with the EC laser-focused on building certainty and trust in cloud computing. The EU zone is well known for its������of the��,��though some have deemed these fears����in light of��.��This becomes especially significant now that EU����will no longer arise piecemeal from general��, but from uniformly enforced��.

Third, the EC seems to place much faith in the power of contracts to assuage worries. Emphasizing “safe and fair contract terms and conditions” as a key goal, the report proposes to create a model contract of standard terms and conditions that certification-seeking cloud businesses can emulate, addressing conditions such as data access, stewardship, control, usage, portability, liability, disclosure, preservation, and reversibility; service upgrades,, and continuity; and termination of services.��Many of these terms, according to the report, are currently missing from typical “take it or leave it” cloud service contracts (known as��), making for one-sided bargains.

Considering the stakes (another key goal is aggressively driving����in the form of��services), these contracts are bound to undergo intense scrutiny and sprout new jurisprudence before anything may be considered “standard”. Combined with conflicts of law and potential tort liability (if, for example, cloud computing became such an integral part of civil society that cloud providers were found to owe some form of fiduciary duty), suffice it to say that private law's future in the clouds looks bright.

Of course, there is always the possibility that cloud computing will lead to nothing particularly new in law. In fact,��, Vice President Public Policy of the Software & Information Industry Association, believes that “there is no need for special privacy, security, intellectual property or consumer protection rules that apply just to cloud computing. Generalized rules, indeed, globally interoperable rules, are best suited to the global, borderless nature of cloud computing.” Most available legal tools needed to achieve such a state of affairs, however, are currently neither globally interoperable nor borderless. Regardless, one thing is��certain: if the EC gets its way, it won't be too long before users across Europe find themselves living on cloud 9.0.

Cynthia Khoo is a JD Candidate at the University of Victoria.

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Thank you for your kind invitation to talk with you about the creative sector.

Today I want to talk about why, in a changing digital age, copyright reform is the right way to support that sector. The debate on copyright often involves extreme positions, rigid views, and emotive arguments.

But for me, this isn’t a simple question: we need to recognise its complexity. Not to be dogmatic, but pragmatic. Not to consider the question as an abstract, philosophical issue: but in its context and time.

Let’s remind ourselves of that context. The world we live in is changing fast. Technology is changing. Business models are changing. The way we consume and enjoy creative works – music, movies, games – is changing.

And, if we want to keep the right balance, the legal framework has to respond.

The last major EU copyright instrument, the Copyright Directive, was adopted in 2001. The Commission proposals it was based on date back to 1998.

Let’s remind ourselves what’s happened since then.

In 1998, Mark Zuckerberg was 14. Today, almost one billion people around the world actively use Facebook, to share photos, videos, and ideas.

In 1998, YouTube didn’t exist. Today, one hour of video is uploaded every second.

In 1998, most people listened to music on the radio, CD or tape. Now digital downloads often overtake conventional sales. New technologies allow downloading or streaming; easily, instantly, wherever you are. Not just to passively listen, but to interact and give feedback, to creators and friends.

But changes are not limited to the content business, they affect all sectors. Huge changes have taken place in the research area. Today, new scientific discoveries don’t just come from new experiments, new drugs, new clinical trials: in fact, now, we can get new results by manipulating existing data. Data and text-mining techniques now lie behind a huge field of research, like human genome projects, potentially life-saving. They could hold the key to the next medical breakthrough, if only we freed them from their current legal tangle. Research activities are not clearly exempted from the copyright rules and there are many different rules in the 27 member states.

And here’s the most important change since 1998. Back then, creation and distribution were in the hands of the few. Now they are in the hands of everyone: democratising innovation, empowering people to generate and exchange ideas, supporting and stimulating huge creativity.

And now let’s remind ourselves what our objectives as policymakers should be for the creative sector.

We should help artists live from their art. Stimulate creativity and innovation. Improve consumer choice. Promote our cultural heritage. And help the sector drive economic growth.

We can’ t look at copyright in isolation: you have to look at how it fits into the real world. So let’s ask ourselves: how well is the current system achieving those objectives, in the world we live in today?

Well for one thing, you often find that online licensing restrictions make it impossible to buy music legally. Sometimes, for example, you can’t buy an MP3 across an EU border.

We have already made a proposal on orphan works and recently one on collective rights management, to make multi-territorial licensing easier. The licensing proposal is a good step forward to make it easier to legally access the music you love, especially across borders. I hope legislators are able to agree it quickly. But this tackles only one aspect of the problem.

Neelie Kroes is the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda. This speech is cross posted from our friends over at . Click to read the full speech.

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