ACT Applauds Progress on ECPA and Cloud Computing

The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) applauds the steps taken by the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to highlight concerns addressing cloud computing and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Cloud computing is a new development in internet services which allows consumers to shift their work online using a web browser to run applications and save data, all of which is stored on remote servers, or “in the cloud.”

“The marketplace is rapidly adopting cloud computing,” said ACT President Jonathan Zuck. “With the explosive growth of smartphones and tablets, consumers are embracing mobile computing and the applications in the cloud that add functionality to their devices. Companies large and small are eager to take advantage of the convenience of remotely stored data and applications.

“This nascent industry is a growth area in our economy, with innovation producing jobs and growing new businesses. Unfortunately, the law has not kept pace with technology and the uncertainty this produces threatens to stifle growth. Statutes written to provide security when the most sophisticated consumer device was an answering machine simply cannot guide industry and lawmakers in the digital age.

“Both industry and consumer privacy organizations have come together to adopt a common set of principles to guide lawmakers. U.S. companies and small business software developers are poised to begin work producing new products and services. We urgently need Congress to take action and update our laws so U.S. companies can thrive and take the lead in this new global marketplace.”