"If I [as a cloud service provider] get a notice today to share data even through a legal channel, I will have to contest it in court because I can’t implement what they [law enforcement] are asking me to," said Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy from BSA – The Software Alliance. Intermediaries, including cloud service providers, often do not have access to data that law enforcement asks them for, or they are bound by confidentiality agreements. "Intermediaries such as cloud service providers do have access to some of client data, but they’re bound by contracts, and they also need to protect consumers’ right to privacy and free speech," he said. "In Andhra Pradesh, the police found a particular app problematic and approached the cloud service provider who was hosting this app [for access to the app's data]. The cloud service provider said that they have only one option — to shut down the service, because they don't know what aspect of its services the client [the app] is using at any stage," Krishnamoorthy said. He was speaking at MediaNama's discussion on Intermediary Liability in Delhi on October 23. The discussion was conducted in partnership with Centre for Communications Governance @ NLU Delhi, with support from Google, Facebook, and Friedrich Naumann Foundation. "It’s technically not possible [for a cloud service provider to comply with a traceability request], and legally we can get into a soup if we try to implement some of this." — Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy Other intermediaries are routinely asked for information and data that…
