Backing the European Commission’s cloud computing strategy, the European Parliament has voted on a new resolution to engage the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in helping to set out new standards for cloud interoperability and secutiry.

According to the new resolution voted by MEPs, the standards “should enable easy and complete data and service portability, and a high degree of interoperability between cloud services, in order to increase rather than limit competitiveness”.

One interesting aspect of the resolution, is that cloud providers should have a status of ‘data controllers’ which means that according to EU data protection laws they will share liability with the customer in relation to their data protection obligations.

Hinting to the recent scandal regarding NSA snooping data stored by some major US technology companies, the MEPs called for the Commission to set guidelines in order for the businesses to “ensure full compliance with the EU’s fundamental rights and data protection obligations”.  The resolution takes a step forward to prevent the same tactics being used by institutions from member states by calling for the Commission to set “limitative conditions under which cloud data may or may not be accessed for law enforcement purposes, in compliance with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and with EU law”.

Another interesting point in the resolution is that the EU Parliament wants the EU to “sponsor research in and commercial deployment or public procurement of relevant technologies, such as encryption and anonymisation, enabling users to secure their information in an easy way”.

Finally, there are a few other points that the MEPs would like to see addressed in the European Commission’s cloud computing strategy that are not currently addressed, like environmental and energy consumption issues.

United Nations joining the cause

On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution introduced by Germany and Brazil, aimed at protecting the right to privacy against unlawful surveillance in the digital age. The resolution calls on all countries “to review their procedures, practices and legislation regarding the surveillance of communications, their interception and collection of personal data, including mass surveillance, interception and collection, with a view to upholding the right to privacy of all their obligations under international human rights law.”

Although UN General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they carry significant political weight and reflect the will of the country members.