Over the last few years, the word “cloud” has been given new life.
At one time, it was associated with blocking out the sun or bringing rain.
Today it’s become synonymous with providing access anywhere, anytime to the photo-sharing, email and social network accounts of individuals and cutting IT infrastructure costs for businesses.
Put simply, cloud services allow users to access data over the Internet which is stored or hosted on third party servers. In other words, the third party stores it so you can spare your hard drive additional burden.
As the use of cloud computing services increases, my Office has developed a fact sheet answering questions you may have on the privacy implications of this growing trend.
For example:
- What are the security risks (and/or benefits) of cloud services?
- How does Canada’s private sector privacy law apply to such services?
- May the laws of countries where data is hosted apply?
All in all, whether you’re a small business owner weighing the pros and cons of a cloud service to store customer or client data, or if you’re considering an affordable, less memory-taxing way to store your family photos, I encourage you to give it a read, by clicking here.
And stay tuned, because our Office is also preparing some words of advice specifically for small – and medium-sized enterprises considering using cloud services which will be available in the coming months.