Re: The Cloud Computing Bill of Rights

plaird — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:19:13 -0000

I will be travelling for business August 18-20.

Re: The Cloud Computing Bill of Rights

plaird — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:38:01 -0000

James,

I also took a look at the issue of cloud/SaaS rights. I think the data ownership right is critical, but not properly implemented by many vendors. I analyzed a number of SaaS company's Terms of Service in this blog entry:

"The Good, Bad, and the Ugly of SaaS Terms of Service, Licenses, and Contracts"
http://peterlaird.blogspot....

In terms of data ownership, you will find a clause like this one in almost all contracts (and this is a good thing):

"Salesforce.com does not own any data, information or material that you submit to the Service in the course of using the Service ("Customer Data")"

But this is sometimes followed by something like this:

"Salesforce.com reserves the right to withhold, remove and/or discard Customer Data without notice for any breach, including, without limitation, your non-payment. Upon termination for cause, your right to access or use Customer Data immediately ceases, and salesforce.com shall have no obligation to maintain or forward any Customer Data."

Meaning, SFDC generally believes your data is legally yours, unless you don't pay them. In that case, they now have the right to dispose of it. I think the right to dispose of something implies ownership, yes? So their customers' data ownership right is not absolute.

Compare this to what happens in the physical world. In the U.S., tradesmen (carpenter, auto mechanic) cannot dispose of their customer's physical property (house, car) if the customer fails to pay them for work done. Instead, there is a legal process called a Mechanics Lien that ensures the matter is fairly resolved.

I don't think a Mechanic's Lien is what we should be thinking about - rather a customer should have an explicit and absolute right to data ownership regardless of how a contract is terminated. I discuss that in this blog post:

"Best Practices for the Suspension or Termination of a SaaS Customer Account"
http://peterlaird.blogspot....

Regards,
Peter Laird

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Re: The Cloud Computing Bill of Rights

Re: The Cloud Computing Bill of Rights