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Will data centre owners be the “big winners” in the economy of the next decade in which the digital economy would expand even further? The answer is “yes”, at least according to William Barney, CEO Global Cloud Exchange and CEO of Reliance Communications who said “This Is The Golden Age For Data Centers. We are going faster than we ever thought” during Data Cloud Asia 2017 in Singapore.

The new technologies change the current markets much faster than analysts and experts has ever predicted and data center businesses have to adapt to this process while at the same time keep successfully managing the associated challenges and overcome barriers to serve the digital economy, suggested Mr. Barney taking to the stage of the Data Cloud Asia conference n Singapore. He described that the process of adoption of Cloud computing is one of the most interesting phases in the modern economy as the technology landscape and the usage of Cloud computing is changing in real time and has dramatically shifted over the last year. According to Mr. Barney:

“Software has changed, hardware has changed, infrastructure has changed, the network has changed. All this has allowed big data to come in. What is enabling this is the cloud, and data centre operators are behind this. Anyone in the hosting space will tell you this is the golden age for data centers.”

According to him the “golden age” is evolving and the opportunities for providers that know how to take advantage from the current changes in the data cloud and computing industry will be huge.

Technology research firm Gartner says that by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices connected to Internet with 4 billion people using the Internet on a daily basis. Internet of things (IoT) is predicted to account for up to 3% of the world’s electrical consumption. The research firm also predicts that this will create a $5 trillion economy and a large demand for cloud services and data center services. The new IoT economy will require more orchestrated infrastructure, split into different size, class and niche IT facilities, which have to keep the connected world functioning 24/7. According to the CEO of Global Cloud Exchange:

“The networked data centre will be at the core of the future. Distributed focused compute centres will be the wave of the future. Orchestration is at the core. Data centres are not just about connectivity and the space. It is about having the whole ecosystem in place, have the network in place, orchestration facilities and IoT services.”

The CEO of Global Cloud Exchange has also pointed attention of the Data Cloud Asia conference attendees to the opportunities in emerging markets in the developing economies of Africa and Asia. According to him whoever makes the emerging markets a home for their business, will have an unprecedented advantage with huge demand ahead. “Innovating and expanding across emerging markets will reap biggest benefits for the cloud as requirements growth”, explains Mr. Barney.

75-percent of the world’s population lives in emerging markets, that is inadequately provided with a IT services or facilities for the digital economy. Therefore the emerging markets are those who would drive growth within the new digital economy. At this time there is no emerging market that has a clear data centre leader as most operators of IT facilities, Colocation and Cloud service providers are still focused in the most profitable North American and European markets.

A federal judge has ruled out that there’s a big difference between providing hosting for infringing content and participating in copyright infringement. ALS Scan sued basically everybody for copyright infringement after adult images that it owned were posted all over the web. ALS Scan sued Steadfast Holdings, Cloudflare, Juicy Ads, and a number of other web hosting services.

One by one, these defendants have been excused from the suit. The underlying logic for the dismissals is solid. Providing web hosting is not the same thing as contributory infringement, no matter how much ALS Scan wants it to be.

In the Steadfast ruling, Wu said that merely hosting a pirate site does not make the web hosting service provider liable for any copyright infringement actions the site may be guilty of. In its motion to dismiss, Steadfast argued that it did not manage or operate the Imagebam site, and that it only provided computer storage. Wu wrote that:

“The court is unaware of any authority holding that merely alleging that a defendant provides some form of ‘hosting’ service to an infringing website is sufficient to establish contributory copyright infringement. The court would therefore find that the [complaint] fails to allege facts establishing that Steadfast materially contributed to the infringement.”

The judge said that there is more web hosting companies to do, in order to be considered contributory infringers and the hosting companies are doing none of those things. He said that ALS Scan wants web hosting companies to do more than they’re legally obligated to do. But it can’t sue just because it doesn’t agree with their practices. Here is more from the court ruling:

[T]he only allegations specific to Steadfast that are raised in the SAC are that Steadfast “hosts” pirate sites, including Imagebam, and that Plaintiff has sent numerous notifications to Steadfast of infringing content on Imagebam, but Steadfast has failed to implement or enforce a repeat infringer policy by removing Imagebam from its servers.

Beyond that, ALS’s complaint contains nothing that shows evidence of its claims.

Steadfast also contends that the SAC fails to allege material contribution or inducement. The Court would agree. The SAC alleges only that Steadfast “hosts” pirate sites that feature infringing content. It is entirely unclear what services Steadfast provides to Imagebam; what type of infringing activity Imagebam conducts (or even what Imagebam is); or how Steadfast contributes to or facilitates that infringing activity. As such, the Court would find that the SAC fails to plead material contribution.

The same goes for the rest of the allegations. Steadfast (or other web hosts) didn’t produce or contribute to infringing activity at sites hosted on its network, nor did it somehow violate ALS’s trademarks by hosting websites where infringing images could be found.

As Judge Wu’s opinion points out, it’s not up to the court to determine whether sued websites are “responsive enough” to rightsholders’ demands. As websites and web hosts follow the statutory requirements and respond properly to an DMCA request, they’re insulated from most infringement claims.