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software utilised by the user within the scope of the Cloud services.
However, it is very rarely the case in which users migrate only such data,
and to which no third party has any rights at all.
Licenses are also required for the use of open source software. For such
software all necessary rights are usually granted from the very beginning.
Then only the conditions need to be observed, such as the provision of the
source code. Usually such obligations, concern the Cloud provider, not the
Cloud user.
Penal law
According to many legal systems, data is not only protected by the relevant
data protection laws, but also by penal law provisions. For instance in,
Austria, the unauthorised access to protected systems or the wilful
destruction, deletion, falsification or dissemination of data is punishable by
law in a similar manner as the corresponding destruction of objects or
falsification of documents. Therefore even without contractual provision
rules, abuse needs to be handled. As a consequence the contracting parties
should stipulate what to do in case of any acts by third parties which might
be relevant under penal law (e.g. hacker attacks).
Additionally in the case of low data security, e.g. in Austria there is a risk of
an administrative charge. The Austrian data protection law stipulates a fine
of up to € 10.000,00 if the security measures required by the data
protection act have been grossly neglected.
2.4
Cloud Economics
2.4.1
Why is Cloud cheaper?
In this economical overview we will discuss some of the fundamental factors
that make Cloud computing cheaper; both from the supply side as well as
the consumer side.
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Economies of scale
How do economies of scale work in favour of Cloud computing? The graph
below is interesting as it contains the answer to why so many Cloud
providers are willing to invest millions of euros in building large scale
datacentres for the Cloud.
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An expanded version of this chapter can be found under
