Storing Your Data on the Internet: Ignorant and Silly
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 9th Dec 2009 23:28 UTC
Editorial Now that everything is moving to the cloud internet, you might think that data loss is a thing of the past. Sadly, as the past few months have taught us, this actually isn't true; we first had the Microsoft/Danger disaster, and now we have Palm and Sprint facing a class-action lawsuit over data loss for webOS phones. All this raises the question: how safe is it to store your precious data on the internet, and do you really trust the internet?
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The next step
by darknexus on Thu 10th Dec 2009 00:44 UTC
darknexus
Member since:
2008-07-15

Thom, I agree with everything you've said, and that's not usualy the case ;) . Well put.
One thing we really need to keep in mind is the next step after this. First they store your content, next they sift and use it for their own purposes, and finally they decide what you can and cannot have. I really am afraid we're looking at the first, somewhat undisguised, attempts at making Big Brother a reality. We really need to think about where this is leading, and the fact that we really don't have any measures in place to protect anyone's rights here at least not worldwide. This is one giant gray area, and it's all too easy for that one line too many to be crossed.

Reply Score: 5

RE: The next step
by akavel on Thu 10th Dec 2009 08:48 in reply to "The next step"
akavel Member since:
2009-10-27

In this whole situation, I'm utterly astonished with how little I see in the media about the problems of transferring the control of the data to the storage owners -- as mentioned by darknexus. People seem to think:
"Oh, Google is so coool! yes, I will give them my data and they will never do anything bad with it - they promise they won't, so that's like... a sure thing!"
Arrgh, people, did no one ever break a promise he gave you?!!

And the worst thing is that as much as I'm afraid of that, I do also use gmail... I try to avoid it as much as I can, but it's so well executed... mommy, I'll quit gmailing!.. umm, tomorrow, ok?..
The very least I can do is try to disable Google Analytics & Ad-Words -- those robots silently stalking me on nearly every step I make in the thick mist of "the cloud"... <shudder>

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[2]: The next step
by StephenBeDoper on Fri 11th Dec 2009 02:14 in reply to "RE: The next step"
StephenBeDoper Member since:
2005-07-06

"Oh, Google is so coool! yes, I will give them my data and they will never do anything bad with it - they promise they won't, so that's like... a sure thing!"
Arrgh, people, did no one ever break a promise he gave you?!!


By the same token, it's been quite amusing to see people up in arms about all of the terrible things that Google might potentially do at some unspecified point in the future (those hypothetical bastards!).

Yet the same people ignore concrete, valid reasons to criticize Google for things they're doing today. E.g., in order to upload a video to youTube, you must agree to give Google unrestricted, irrevocable rights (in perpetuity) to that video - which also means they can use it for commercial purposes without providing any compensation.

Reply Parent Score: 2