Nigel Wilson gave a presentation to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia on 23 June 2011 on the topic “Cloud computing – (forensically) cloudy but fine?”.  Nigel’s presentation examined the current state of cloud computing and the key legal, regulatory, forensic and risk management issues which arise from its use.  Cloud computing has been rated as the top technology priority in 2011 and industry estimates predict the cloud computing services market to triple from current figures to $150 billion in 2014.  In the United States of America the US Federal Cloud Computing Strategy has implemented a “Cloud First” policy in which each federal agency must identify three “must move” information technology services and then migrate those services to a cloud computing format.  Nigel’s presentation, which was attended by chartered accountants and representatives of not-for-profit associations, covered the key issues posed by cloud computing: privacy and human rights, service level agreements, consumer protections, e-crime, reliance on the Net and data management, security and admissibility concerns.

 Nigel is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide Law School and the Course Co-ordinator of both the Technology, Law and Society and the Insurance Law subjects in the Adelaide Law School Masters programme.  He is also Special Counsel (Legal and Regulatory) of the University of Adelaide’s Convergent Communications Research Group.  He was recently a joint author of a Report to the Commonwealth of Australia’s Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy entitled “A study of the privacy, security and identity management implications of cloud computing for home users and small to medium enterprises”.

Further information about Nigel’s research can be found at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/nigel.wilson

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