Cloud Computing - A Cloudy Proposition

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In the past, we as a people have come together to form a concerted effort to right wrongs done to humanity.  These have been along economic, racial and political lines.  What else is there to fight for?

In the coming age it will be along technological lines.  As our technology advances more personal rights may be impacted.  As our information is dispersed farther and wider than ever and more importantly pulled together into centralized locations in the name of convenience, our identities will become more at risk than ever.

The main problem will be how to protect this information from abuse but with the advent of cloud computing we are putting more trust than ever into centralized bodies who will have more power than ever.  It is time for us as a people to stand together and make sure that our information, our very lives are not put at risk in the name of convenience.

Just because you can do something does not mean you should.  Take care of your information and your identity because with the direction we are heading, a catastrophe could very well be at our door step.

In my work life, I have seen this time and time again.  Just yesterday, two of our main projects hosted on a cloud service, a big one, a respected one, encountered a problem where resources (databases, web sites) suddenly disappeared.  Backups were searched for, engineers were deployed but in the end a loss of service resulted. 

Be very wary of your trust in external entities and consider the cost when using these cloud services.

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