2.3. Legal aspects of the storage in the cloud
Even though no specific regulation regarding storage services in the cloud exists to date, it must be noted that those services involve several legal implications. In this sense, we need to take into account that most cloud storage services providers hand the client a contract to be adhered to, with little room for negotiation. Actually, the contract mostly consists of accepting several legal conditions when accessing the services (by checking the section “I accept the conditions…”). Nevertheless, before contracting a service, it is essential to carefully examine the contract.
Specifically, the user should make sure that the contract complies with the current regulations in data protection. Users should also make sure they agree with the obligations and liabilities of the provider in the provision of the service (regarding aspects that include the quality of the service, the loss of data or interruptions in the service).
In terms of regulations for data protection, it must be taken into account that legal frameworks are substantially different between countries. For example, the regulations that are in force in the European Union are preventative in nature (they protect citizens’ rights from being infringed), whereas the opposed situation takes place in the USA (if necessary, a compensation would be given to the citizen after the fact).
The European regulation that rules all member States is the Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 27 April 2016, on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.
The European regulation mentioned above is directly applicable in all member States, irrespective of whether a national regulation exists, since May 5th, 2018. It establishes a harsh sanctioning regime and criteria for grading sanctions are quite general. For this reason, several member States, including Spain, have approved new national laws on data protection as soon as possible. In these new laws, grounds for sanctions are much clearer in each country.