Educational Institutions and Cloud Computing: A Roadmap of Responsibilities

Increasingly, educational institutions and state entities handling student data are hiring outside  companies to perform cloud computing functions related to managing personal information. Daniel J Solove recommend the following points to be considered in discussions with contractors 

The Benefits.

The benefits of cloud computing are that outside entities might be more sophisticated at managing personal data. These entities may be able to manage data more inexpensively and effectively than the educational institution could do itself. In many cases, cloud computing providers can provide better security than the educational institutions can.

The Risks

The risks of cloud computing are that educational institutions no longer have as much control over the personal data. They must rely on the cloud computing provider to have the appropriate practices and policies to ensure that data is properly maintained, handled, used, or disclosed.