I am not a fan of The Cloud.
I think cloud computing is handy, but dumb. Well, unwise, anyway. 😯
I think storing personal data in The Cloud is an invitation for all manner of security and privacy problems.
I also think saying such stuff is too much like spitting into the wind. And invites ridicule and there-there-you-old-fashioned-kook condescension. 🙄
Now, I’m feeling at least somewhat-kinda-remotely vindicated. 😀
But the engineering wizard […] was most outspoken on the shift away from hard disks towards uploading data into remote servers, known as cloud computing.
“I really worry about everything going to the cloud,” he said. “I think it’s going to be horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years.”
He added: “With the cloud, you don’t own anything. You already signed it away” through the legalistic terms of service with a cloud provider that computer users must agree to.
“I want to feel that I own things […] A lot of people feel, ‘Oh, everything is really on my computer,’ but I say the more we transfer everything onto the web, onto the cloud, the less we’re going to have control over it.”
I know, I know — most of you will consider the allegedly-rotten apple source and…well, never mind. 😉
In other, possibly-related news: How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking
I think your security and privacy concerns about the cloud are legitimate. However, there are ways to mitigate some of those concerns. For instance, with cloud backup, some services (and I believe Carbonite offers this) allow you to use your own private encryption key, so that your data is encrypted with it before it ever leaves your computer. If that encrypted data were to be accessed by anyone else, without your private encryption key (which only you have), it would be completely unreadable.