Hey You, Get Off Of My Cloud

The next big thing in computing is “cloud computing.” I see this as a serious danger to our freedoms. Am I paranoid? Hardly. I pay attention to history and I've seen how cloud computing's advocates behave, and this has “CONTROL” written all over it.

“Cloud computing” actually has several meanings. In its most benign form, cloud computing means the use of web-based applications like internet e-mail providers. One level deeper involves the creation of a centralized operating system. In this environment, rather than having Windows or Linux run your system, your computer calls Microsoft whenever you turn it on and anything you want to run gets run on Microsoft’s servers, but you keep the data. In other words, any time you wanted to balance your checkbook, Microsoft does the math, but they don’t keep track of what’s in your checkbook. The third level essentially turns your computer into nothing more than a terminal. At this level, Microsoft not only runs your computer, but it stores your data.

So what’s my beef with cloud computing?

At the first level, I have few complaints. But when you start getting to the second and third levels, you run into practical and control issues.

First, the practical. For anyone who has ever lived somewhere backwards, you know how it stinks to lose your internet. Having lost my internet regularly for a day or two at a time and once as long as a week, I can tell you that it hits you pretty quickly how stupid it is to become reliant on the internet. So why in the world would I want to join one of these clouds? I use my computer to balance my checkbook, keep my contact information and handle my job, through word processing and the such. If all of that is done on the internet and I lose my internet periodically, I lose my access to all of that information. That’s disastrous.

And don’t forget the utter lack of safety on the internet. How many times have we heard about 50 million credit cards being stolen from some commercial site and posted in Russia? No hacker worth a plugged byte is coming after your data. But if your data is sitting in a pile with the data of 200 million other people, then suddenly you become a tempting target.

But most troubling are the control issues. In the past few years, we’ve seen evidence that the tech companies are little Nazis. Google spies like the Stasi. Microsoft is obsessed with even the smallest details of how you handle your system -- make a change to anything they don’t like and they’ll issue a new version of Windows that stops you in your tracks. Facebook doesn’t believe in privacy. None of them have had a problem with deleting politically incorrect content, and don’t forget, each of these “good liberal companies” has surrendered to totalitarian regimes like China and Pakistan with barely a whisper of complaint.

How happy will you be when you sign in one morning only to discover that the book you were writing is gone because you used a word Google doesn’t like. I guess you should have read their policy on “hate speech” a little more closely. And while we’re at it, your music library is gone because they’re pretty sure you didn’t have a license to upload those songs. Oh, and those pictures of your kids, they look kind of porny to our administrator, expect the child services people to call you today. Hey, at least we didn’t pass those around like the ones of you and your spouse! And while we’re breaking bad news, your insurer was quite interested in your diary, how long did you say you’ve had that itch? Not to mention that our advertisers paid us to scan your data looking for things that might interest you, but their analysis of your in-depth profile says you might be a bad credit risk.

Many people have learned the hard way that information is power. The Germans learned this under the Nazis and the Stasi. The Russians learned it under the KGB. When an organization can learn intimidate details of your life, they control you. And I don’t even mean blackmail. I mean that giving one organization the power to know everything about you lets them determine what you can buy and sell, what jobs you can hold, how to handle your health care, whether to send the police to watch you, and even lets them intrude on how you raise your kids.

It makes no difference if this is the government or private companies. For one thing, these companies have shown that they are willing to blur the distinction between public and private to guarantee their profits, and governments are more than willing to make that trade off for power. But even more importantly, with the database-ization of the world, every company you might want to deal with, and the companies that make it possible for you to deal with them (like banks and credit card companies), can buy access to these databases.

Should we loan you money? No, our data says you’re over-extended. Should we give you insurance? No, our data says you might be a health risk. Should we give you a job? No, our data says you hold unpopular opinions.

This is the world cloud computing promises; it makes Big Brother look like a Keystone Cop. And if this weren’t the case, tell me why Facebook fights so hard keep privacy advocates at bay, why Microsoft cares if I want arrows on my icons or not, why Google is roaming the earth illegally collecting data, and why Microsoft’s ads about cloud computing lie to you. . . they make you think they will give you new programs you can’t get at home (although you can), and they never once mention who gets their hands on your data. I wonder why that is?