With so many people and their businesses being online these days, the ability to store and access information has greatly evolved. Over the past decade, cloud computing has become increasingly popular and has transformed the way we manage and store data. Services like cloud servers have become a really common solution for organizations to store their data, applications, and services remotely, and can be accessed via the internet. In fact, as of 2023, over 94% of enterprise businesses use cloud services. This all being said, with all of this cloud technology comes new questions: who owns the information stored in the cloud?
What is a Cloud Server?
Before diving right in and answering the question about who owns the information stored in the cloud, it's important to understand what exactly a cloud server is. A cloud server is a remote server that can be accessed via the internet, and has the capability to store and manage data, applications, and services. It's a virtual server that runs on a cloud computing platform hosted by a third-party provider.
Usually the third-party providers offer different types of cloud services, including:
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS is a cloud computing service that supplies users with virtualized computing resources, which includes servers, storage, and networking.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
PaaS is a cloud computing service that offers users a platform to develop, run, and even manage applications. With PaaS, users don’t need to build and maintain the overall underlying infrastructure.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS is a cloud computing service that gives users the access to software applications hosted on a remote server, and can be reached through a web browser.
Who Owns the Information Stored in the Cloud
Now, to the nitty gritty - the answer to the question of who owns the information stored in the cloud, it’s not so simple. The ownership of the data depends on a myriad of factors, such as the type of cloud service used, the terms of service agreed upon by the user and the cloud provider, and the laws and regulations governing data ownership in different jurisdictions. With jurisdiction, we’re not just talking about the United States but all of the countries around the globe.
With IaaS, the user is usually responsible for the data stored on the cloud server. This simply means that the user owns the data and is responsible for keeping it secure. The cloud provider, though, has the responsibility for maintaining the infrastructure that the data is stored on, for example: the servers, storage devices, and networking equipment.
As for PaaS, the ownership of data is a bit more complicated. While the user is responsible for the applications and data that they create and store on the platform, the cloud provider has obligations for the underlying infrastructure. Each cloud server provider may have a somewhat different terms of service from eah other. This means that the user really needs to take a look and carefully read the cloud provider’s terms of services in order to understand who owns the data.
In SaaS, the cloud provider is typically the owner of the data. This is because the user is using a software application that is hosted on the provider's servers. The provider is responsible for maintaining the software and the underlying infrastructure, and the user typically has limited control over the data.
Please note that even if the cloud provider owns the data, the user still has some rights to it. For example, the user has the right to access their data as well as have it deleted if they choose to stop using the service.
The ownership of data can also vary based on the location of the data and the laws and regulations that control the data ownership in that location. In the United States, data ownership laws can vary from one state to another state. For example, in some states they have laws that specifically state that the user owns their data, while others have laws that may not seem as clear. Another example is the European Union, with their General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which gives users certain rights over their data, no matter where the data is stored.
So if you have users registered to an application, you need to make sure that the data is secure and make sure that you provide ways for the user’s to know what you store. You also need to provide methods for your users to request a way to remove any data at any time. A good example is when you have an ecommerce website where it stores IP addresses, email addresses, customer home addresses, and sometimes even payment information. Your customers should be able to ask you to delete their data if they don’t want to have their sensitive information stored.
Furthermore with international data storage, the laws and regulations governing data ownership can be a bit more intricate. Many countries have different laws in regards to data privacy and security, so it's important to understand these laws before storing data in a foreign country. In some cases, the ownership of data can result in a legal issue. As an example, if a user stores data that has a copyright or confidential material on a cloud server, they could be committing a law violation.
