Cloud services from Apple and Google may end up being more effective than regulation to fight online piracy, a US official has reportedly said.
Cloud services allow users to to store photos, music and data online and access them from anywhere and on a variety of devices. Recently, Apple announced its cloud service iCloud to join the list of cloud service providers which include search engine company Google and e-Commerce company Amazon.
According to a Reuters report, the coordinator of US intellectual property enforcement Victoria Espinel told the World Copyright Summit in Brussels that law enforcement is at times enforced inappropriately and that corporate innovation was often more effective than laws.
"The US government doesn’t need to pick winners and losers and the last thing we should think about doing is messing up the Internet with inappropriate regulation," she said.
Governments such as France, the US and New Zealand have called for stricter Internet regulations to curb online piracy. Google’s Eric Schmidt has also lent his support to Internet regulations.
Espinel has advocated engagement with companies to solve the problem.
She said, "In order for the Internet to be as productive and compelling as possible, we need to have active engagement from companies that interact with and benefit from Internet commerce."
"If it is possible to construct it so that it cannot be compromised, it may have the effect of reducing piracy by giving value to consumers — the ability to own forever and access almost anywhere — that cannot be obtained with illegal copies," Espinel said.
"The flexibility of the cloud may help spur the development of compelling legal alternatives."
