FTC looks at the impact of cloud computing

A Q&A with Kathryn Ratté, an attorney in the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection at the Federal Trade Commission.

She says the FTC has jurisdiction over private sector uses of data, generally. So, we look at companies and their data handling practices, rather than other government agencies, which we don't have the jurisdiction to do. Cloud computing is an example of an emerging business model that we're examining for its impact on consumers. We do this all the time with all sorts of other emerging technologies. Some other examples would be things like RFID or social networking. So, as with many other emerging technologies, we're just sort of taking a look at cloud computing and trying to see if there are any new issues for consumers.