New Zealand to get Cloud Code of Practice

New Zealand’s cloud computing industry has announced plans to develop a voluntary Cloud Computing Code of Practice to inform and safeguard the public.

The initiative was the outcome of a workshop that included participants from industry and government as well as observers from the offices of the Privacy Commissioner and Government CIO.

The first phase of the project is to be facilitated independently by the NZ Computer Society (NZCS). NZCS Chief Executive Paul Matthews said: “”Cloud computing offers exciting new opportunities and avenues for New Zealand but with that comes responsibilities for service providers.

We’re excited that the industry is being proactive in addressing this through the proposed Cloud Code of Practice, ensuring those using Cloud services can continue to have confidence in solutions available in New Zealand.”

InternetNZ Chief Executive Vikram Kumar said: “The purpose of this workshop was to discuss the issues facing New Zealand as a result of cloud adoption and to look at what steps could be taken to address these. We’re very excited to see this initiative develop into a Code of Practice.”

New Zealand Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff, attending the workshop as an observer, welcomed the industry-led development.

“We’ve had concerns around cloud computing for some time and a significant survey undertaken by our office earlier this year concluded a clear lack of awareness around Cloud issues. We will watch this development with interest.” she said.

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