Election Debate Data in the Cloud

Debate2010 is an online discussion and debate area, created as a joint project by Salesforce.com and Telegraph.co.uk, intended to gather information on what voters really think during the upcoming UK election campaign.

The project is built on salesforce.com's Enterprise Cloud Computing platform, Force.com, and it looks like it may use Salesforce Chatter. This will be a further, or new, step by many people into the use of cloud services.

So how have the risks to personal data been presented? Debate2010 is hosted on a Telegraph sub-domain debate2010.telegraph.co.uk which seems to be included in the generic terms of use for "'Telegraph' branded microsites" and and under the registration entry for Telegraph Media Group Limited (TMG) in the UK Information Commissioner's Office's register of data controllers. The registration lists worldwide transfers under "Purpose 4 - Trading / Sharing in Personal Information".

So what about salesforce.com? Salesforce.com provides:

• privacy statement
• self-certification with the US safe harbor framework
• trust details.

There are plenty of reassurances being given. Debate2010 requires participants to register But remember the TMG is still accountable for the use and protection of the personal data—whether it's in the cloud or elsewhere.

However, it's not clear to me who's getting what information and which terms and privacy statements and security policies apply. It's interesting that TMG hasn't felt the need to update their terms of use (or a privacy statement), even though this microsite seeks political views, is possibly hosted somewhere new and together these might change the business risks. For any web site, the terms of use (and separate privacty notice?) on the actual site should be all that matter, and fully explain to users and participants how their personal data will be used, and by whom.