
Robert Brown examines the implications for eDisclosure when a company’s data has moved into cyberspace
We may not realise we’re doing so, but we all use the “cloud”. E-mail services such as Hotmail and Gmail are cloud-based, as is Microsoft’s Office 365 and the popular data storage tool Dropbox. The corporate sector too has been no less enthusiastic in its adoption of cloud-based software and data storage, for both mainstream and specialist applications. In addition, law firm applications are increasingly moving towards the cloud with legal libraries and case management tools being, perhaps, the more well-known examples.
The concept of managing eDisclosure within the cloud, however, is somewhat ambiguous and, as far as many companies are concerned, shrouded in mystery. One consequence is that many companies are far less circumspect about what happens to their data in the cloud than they are with more conventional providers of IT services.
An important aspect of using the cloud that is frequently overlooked, often until it is too late is what happens in