Skip to main content

Understanding the Cloud: The Social Implications of Cloud Computing and the Need for Accountability

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Accountability and Security in the Cloud (A4Cloud 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 8937))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 1485 Accesses

Abstract

Five years ago, cloud computing was one of the top emerging new technologies, nowadays it is almost common place. This rapid introduction of cloud business models in our society coincides with critical questions on the cloud’s risks, such as security and privacy. Moreover, there seems to be an increased demand for accountable behaviour in the cloud. This paper explores how society understands the cloud, its related risks and the need for accountability in the cloud. This exploration provides insight in the social implications of cloud and future Internet services and the way cloud and accountability tools will be adopted in society.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Although Article 20 of the Data Protection Directive on prior checking when data processing presents specific risks is considered a predecessor to PIA.

References

  1. Fenn, J.: Inside the Hype Cycle: What’s Hot and What’s Not in 2009 (2009). http://my.gartner.com/it/content/1101800/1101817/august12_hype_cycle_final_jfenn.pdf

  2. Jasanoff, S.: In the democracies of DNA: ontological uncertainty and political order in three states. New Genet. Soc. 24, 139–156 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Marris, C., Wynne, B., Simmons, P., Weldon, S.: Public perceptions of agricultural biotechnologies in Europe. Final report of the PABE research project funded by the Commission of European Communities. Contract Number FAIR CT98-3844 DG12-SSMI (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Mulkay, M.: The Embryo Research Debate: Science and the Politics of Reproduction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1997)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Beck, U.: From industrial society to the risk society: questions of survival, social structure and ecological enlightenment. Theory Cult. Soc. 9, 97–123 (1992). doi:10.1177/026327692009001006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hood, C.: Accountability and transparency: siamese twins, matching parts, awkward couple? West Eur. Polit. 33, 989–1009 (2010). doi:10.1080/01402382.2010.486122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Raab, C.: The meaning of the word “accountability” in the information privacy context. In: Managing Privacy through Accountability, p. 15 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Macoubrie, J.: Nanotechnology: public concerns, reasoning and trust in government. Public Underst. Sci. 15, 221–241 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Stoker, G.: Governance as theory: five propositions. Int. Soc. Sci. J. 50, 17–28 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Renn, O., Klinke, A., Asselt, M.: Coping with complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity in risk governance: a synthesis. AMBIO 40, 231–246 (2011). doi:10.1007/s13280-010-0134-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Alnemr, R.: Reputation Object Representation Model for Enabling Reputation Interoperability. Potsdam University, Potsdam (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Svantesson, D., Clarke, R.: Privacy and consumer risks in cloud computing. Comput. Law Secur. Rev. 26, 391–397 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Almorsy, M., Grundy, J., Müller, I.: An analysis of the cloud computing security problem. Presented at the Proceedings of APSEC 2010 Cloud Workshop, Sydney, Australia, 30 November 2010

    Google Scholar 

  14. KPMG: Embracing the cloud. Global cloud survey (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  15. KPMG: The cloud takes shape. Global cloud survey (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Niezen, M., Prüfer, P., Leenes, R.E., Nuñez, D., Agudo, I., Fernandez Gago, C., Koulouris, T., Alnemr, R.: A4Cloud D:B-4.1 Interim report. Tilburg University, TILT (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  17. De Oliviera, A., Garaga, A., Martucci, L.A., Felici, M., Alnemr, R., Stefanatou, D., Niezen, M., Fernandez, C., Nuñez, D., Hasnain, B., Vranaki, A., Cayirci, E.: D:C-6.1: Risk and trust accountability in the cloud. SAP (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  18. ENISA: Cloud Computing: Benefits, risks and recommendation for information security (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Wright, D.: The state of the art in privacy impact assessment. Comput. Law Secur. Rev. 28, 54–61 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Purtova, N., Kosta, E., Koops, B.J.: Laws and reputation for digital health. In: Requirements Engineering for Digital Health and Care. Springer, New York (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Rip, A., Misa, T.J., Schot, J.: Managing Technology in Society. Pinter Publishers London, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Castells, M.: Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint. In: Castells, M. (ed.) The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, pp. 3–45. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. Buyya, R., Yeo, C.S., Venugopal, S., Broberg, J., Brandic, I.: Cloud computing and emerging IT platforms: vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. 25, 599–616 (2009). doi:10.1016/j.future.2008.12.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Smith, M.: Concerns about surveillance ‘fanciful,’ British official says. CNN (2013). http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/09/world/nsa-data-mining/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

  25. Jain, V.: The Snowden effect, changing the course of cloud security. PandoDaily (2013). http://pando.com/2013/09/11/the-snowden-effect-changing-the-course-of-cloud-security/

  26. Marshall, C., Tang, J.C.: That syncing feeling: early user experiences with the cloud, p. 544. ACM Press (2012). doi:10.1145/2317956.2318038

  27. Leenes, R., Oomen, I.: The role of citizens: what can Dutch, Flemish and English students teach us about privacy? In: Gutwirth, S., Poullet, Y., Hert, P., Terwangne, C., Nouwt, S. (eds.) Reinventing Data Protection?, pp. 139–153. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  28. Beldad, A.D.: Trust and Information Privacy Concerns in Electronic Government. University of Twente, Enschede (2011)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  29. Hoffman, D.L., Novak, T.P., Peralta, M.: Building consumer trust online. Commun. ACM 42, 80–85 (1999). doi:10.1145/299157.299175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Olivero, N., Lunt, P.: Privacy versus willingness to disclose in e-commerce exchanges: the effect of risk awareness on the relative role of trust and control. J. Econ. Psychol. 25, 243–262 (2004). doi:10.1016/S0167-4870(02)00172-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wynne, B.: Elephants in the rooms where publics encounter science?: A response to Darrin Durant, Accounting for expertise: Wynne and the autonomy of the lay public. Public Underst. Sci. 17, 21–33 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Beck, U.: The terrorist threat world risk society revisited. Theory Cult. Soc. 19, 39–55 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Jasanoff, S.: The Fifth Branch: Science Advisers as Policymakers. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Jasanoff, S.: Governing innovation. Presented at the Knowledge in Question–A Symposium on Interrogating Knowledge and Questioning Science (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Guston, D.H., Fisher, E., Grunwald, A., Owen, R., Swierstra, T., van der Burg, S.: Responsible innovation: motivations for a new journal. J. Responsible Innov. 1, 1–8 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Bovens, M.: Analysing and assessing public accountability: a conceptual framework (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Bovens, M.: Two concepts of accountability: accountability as a virtue and as a mechanism. West Eur. Polit. 33, 946–967 (2010). doi:10.1080/01402382.2010.486119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Bovens, M.: Analysing and assessing public accountability: a conceptual framework. European Governance Papers (EUROGOV) No. C-06-01 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Bovens, M.A.P., Schillemans, T.: Handboek Publieke Verantwoording. LEMMA, Den Haag (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Mulgan, R.: “Accountability”: an ever-expanding concept? Public Adm. 78, 555–573 (2000). doi:10.1111/1467-9299.00218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Hughes, O.E.: Public Management and Administration: An Introduction, 4th edn. England Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Romzek, B., Dubnick, M.: Accountability in the public sector: lessons from the Challenger tragedy. Public Adm. Rev. 47, 227–238 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Romzek, B.S., Dubnick, M.J.: Issues of accountability in flexible personnel systems. In: Ingraham, P.W., Romzek, B.S. (eds.) New Paradigms for Government, pp. 263–294. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Koenig-Archibugi, M.: Transnational corporations and public accountability. Gov. Oppos. 39, 234–259 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Pearson, S.: Toward accountability in the cloud. In: IEEE Internet Computing, pp. 2–7 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Bennett, C.J.: International privacy standards: can accountability be adequate? Priv. Laws Bus. Int. 106, 21–23 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Bennett, C.J.: The accountability approach to privacy and data protection: assumptions and caveats. In: Guagnin, D., et al. (eds.) Managing Privacy Through Accountability, pp. 33–48. Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  48. The Working Party on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data: Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, Opinion 3/2010 on the concept of accountability. 00062/10/EN WP 173 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Gray, R.: Accounting and environmentalism: an exploration of the challenge of gently accounting for accountability, transparency and sustainability. Account. Organ. Soc. 17, 399–425 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Classifying educational programmes: Manual for ISCED-97 implementation in OECD countries (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Sjoberg, L., Fromm, J.: Information technology risks as seen by the public. Risk Anal. 21, 427–442 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Warren, M.E.: Citizen participation and democratic deficits: considerations from the perspective of democratic theory. In: De Bardeleben, J., Pammett, J.H. (eds.) Activating the Citizen: Dilemmas of Participation in Europe and Canada, pp. 17–40. Palgrave Macmillan, New York (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  53. Microsoft: Law Enforcement Requests Report (2014). http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/transparency/

  54. Apple: Report on Government Information Requests (2013). https://www.apple.com/pr/pdf/131105reportongovinforequests3.pdf

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no: 317550 The Cloud Accountability Project (A4Cloud).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maartje G. H. Niezen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Appendix.

Appendix.

Table 2. Means, standard deviation and number of respondents for each item regarding Cloud related concerns or benefits**.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Niezen, M.G.H., Steijn, W.M.P. (2015). Understanding the Cloud: The Social Implications of Cloud Computing and the Need for Accountability. In: Felici, M., Fernández-Gago, C. (eds) Accountability and Security in the Cloud. A4Cloud 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8937. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17199-9_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17199-9_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17198-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17199-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics