Access to Data Stored in a cloud

A system for accessing data stored in a cloud, the system comprising:

• a provider of the cloud comprising a computer network storing the data;
• an entity that accesses the data, the entity comprising at least one of a client application, a server application, or a user wishing to access the data using the client application, the server application or the client application and the server application;
• at least one rights application;
• and
• a rights server not subject to the control of the cloud provider and comprising a rights policy that is configured to define at least one of the following access rights:
• (a) access rights of users, user groups or the users and the user groups, the access rights of one of the users on a local computer on which the client application runs being different than the access rights of an application server on which the server application runs, and/or (b) access rights of the client and server applications, the access rights of the client application different than the access rights of the server application, wherein the access rights are for operating on the data stored in the computer network of the provider of the cloud;
• wherein the rights application is configured to be inquired about whether access to the data by a accessing entity is allowed and to inform the rights server of the inquired access;
• wherein the rights server is configured to be provided an item of access information that is configured to be used to determine whether the access is allowed according to the access rights of the accessing entity, where the access differs for the client application from the access for the server application due to the difference in the access rights;
• and
• wherein the cloud is configured to provide access to the data of the computer network only when access is allowed according to the access information.

A rights server for accessing data stored in a cloud, the rights server comprising:

• a memory configured to store a rights policy configured to define at least one of the following access rights:
• (a) access rights of users, user groups, or the users and the user groups, the access rights of a user on a client computer on which a client application runs being different than the access rights of an application server on which the server application runs, and/or (b) access rights of a client application and the server application, the access rights of the client application different than the access rights of the server application;
• and
• a processor configured to be provided an item of access information that is configured to be used to determine whether the access is allowed according to the access rights of an accessing entity, the processor configured to inquire a rights application about whether the access to the data is allowed such that the cloud is configured to provide access to the data only when access is allowed according to the access information, the provided access for the client application being different than for the server application due to the difference in the access rights;
• wherein the rights server is not subject to the control of a provider of the cloud.