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The Ethical Implications of Cloud Computing on Society

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The Ethical Implications of Cloud Computing on Society
Barry Young
Individual Research Paper:
The Ethical Implications of Cloud Computing on Society

MGMT 505
Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Policy
Spring 2013
Niki A. den Nieuwenboer

Cloud Computing is a popular term for “enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction” (Brian, 2012). The concept of Cloud
Computing was first developed in the 1960’s by scientists who envisioned a world in which computation would be generated in a global network, and delivered as a public utility (Cantu, 2011). It was not until 1997 that the term was used in a presentation by
Professor Ramnath Chellappa (Cantu, 2011), and in the same year Microsoft and Intel presented the NetPC concept (Zhou, 2009). Cloud Computing has picked up adoption since then, and between 2010 and 2011, the worldwide market for cloud services has grown by 21% (Gartner, 2012). It is predicted that the compound annual growth rate of
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) will grow annually by
42% and 26% respectively, through 2016 (Gartner, 2012).

With this growth in Cloud Computing, there is a need to analyze the ethical nature of this shift in technology, and in particular to look at the motivations and decisions of the corporations who are delivering these cloud services. In this paper, I will discuss the business strategies and how these relate to corporate responsibility, the environmental impact of moving infrastructure to highly efficient data centers, and the global impact on society that this technology brings.

Advantages of Cloud Computing for Businesses and Society
Cloud Computing offers many advantages for businesses and society worldwide. Small and large businesses alike are able to reduce their overhead costs by outsourcing their IT

infrastructure, which leads to a more efficient, scalable, and


References: Berl Andreas, 2010, Energy-efficient Cloud Computing, The Computer Journal http://www.beknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/16790Energy-efficientcloud-computing_2010_Computer-Journal.pdf Bozdag Engin, 2010, The Ethics of Cloud Computing, academia.com, http://www.academia.edu/646838/The_Ethics_of_Cloud_Computing Brian Oliver, 2012, Cloud Computing White Paper, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences http://www.cloud-finder.ch/fileadmin/Dateien/PDF/News/2012-1106_SATW_White_Paper_Cloud_Computing_EN_1_.pdf Cantu Anu, 2011, The History and Future of Cloud Computing, Forbes.com, http://www.forbes.com/sites/dell/2011/12/20/the-history-and-future-of-cloud-computing/ Castro Daniel, 2010, Cloud Computing Requires National Policy Leadership, itif.org http://www.itif.org/files/2010-cloud-computing.pdf Essers Loek, 2013, EC pressed to charge Google in antitrust case, computerworld.com Galante Joseph, 2011, Sony Network Breach Shows Amazon Cloud’s Appeal for Hackers, Bloomberg.com http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-15/sony-attack-shows-amazon-s-cloudservice-lures-hackers-at-pennies-an-hour.html Gartner, 2012, Forecast Overview: Public Cloud Services Worldwide, 2011-2016, Gilbert Francois, 2011, Server Location: A Significant Factor in Cloud Computing Services, techtarget.com http://www.globalprivacybook.com/blog-multinational/194-server-location-a-significantfactor-in-cloud-computing-services Grimes, Justin (2009) Weathering the Storm: The Policy Implications of Cloud Thomson Clive, 2006, Google 's China Problem, nytimes.com http://www.d.umn.edu/~jford/phil3242/Google 's%20China%20Problem%20(and%20Chi na 's%20Google%20Problem)%20-%20New%20York%20Times.pdf IBM, 2013, Computing as a service over the Internet, ibm.com, http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/what-is-cloud-computing.html Jaeger Paul, 2008, Computing in a Policy Cloud?, Journal of Information Technology Jones Penny, 2013, SALESFORCE.COM COMMITS TO RENEWABLES IN DATA CENTER, datacenterdynamics.com http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/focus/archive/2013/03/salesforcecom-commitsrenewables-data-center Kanter James, 2013, European Regulators Fine Microsoft, Then Promise to Do Better, Kshetri Nir, 2010, Cloud Computing in Developing Economies, IEEE Computer Society http://www.ptc.org/ptc10/program/images/papers/papers/Paper_Nir%20Kshetri_B8.pdf Lee Jyh-An, 2013, Searching for Internet Freedom in China: A Case Study on Google 's China Experience, Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal http://www.cardozoaelj.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Liu-Li-Lee.pdf Marinescu Dan, 2012, Cloud Computing: Theory and Practice, University of Central Florida, http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~dcm/LectureNotes.pdf McMillan Brad, 2011, Cloud Computing: What It Can Do for Your Business, McKendrick Joe, 2011, Cloud Computing 's Vendor Lock-In Problem: Why the Industry is Taking a Step Backward, forbes.com, http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2011/11/20/cloud-computings-vendor-lockin-problem-why-the-industry-is-taking-a-step-backwards/ Moran Rick, 2012 Are e-Readers really green?, themillions.com, http://www.themillions.com/2012/05/are-ereaders-really-green.html Reeves Drue, 2012, The truth about Cloud economics, hbr.org, http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/04/the_truth_about_cloud_economic.html Washburn Doug, 2011, Cloud Computing Helps Accelerate Green IT, forrester.com, http://www.forrester.com/Cloud+Computing+Helps+Accelerate+Green+IT/fulltext/-/ERES58938 Zhou Guofu, 2009, One Program Model for Cloud Computing, Springer.com,
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