More Cloud Computing Hate

In my last rant about cloud computing, I forgot about a important scenario that could affect us all in terms of privacy. The scenario which I am referring to is where the cloud computing company who manages your data sells it on the open market. You want the truth, you say – well here it is:

Ok, so I’m doing my usual daily routine of checking out the tech news out there and lo and behold, what do I read on the Wired.com website: Cloud computing companies that manage health records may be selling that data as a commodity! That’s right, even though this data is being anonymized and scrubbed to remove personal info (supposedly), it is being sold. There it is – and I hope you can handle this truth.

Stepping out of my movie mode homage to “A Few Good Men,” and getting back to reality, personal data being sold by cloud computing companies is an issue which can adversely affect us all.

When my mother required eye surgery this year, it was obvious that the doctor’s use of a medical data management system contributed to her procedures going smoothly. As well, having had some experience in building data management systems myself, I fully understand how powerful these systems are in the various applications they are used in. So you could say that I’m pretty much a proponent of data management systems particularly when used in medical or other mission critical applications.

What I am against is who is allowed to access the data in these systems – which gets me back to cloud computing. If your doctor’s medical records are being stored in the cloud, that data should not be sold by the cloud computing service – under any circumstance. No matter how much your data is anonymized and scrubbed to keep things private – your medical records should not be considered a salable commodity. Bottom line, you, I and whoever else who goes to the doctor are entitled to privacy.

Since I covered the security ramifications of cloud computing in an earlier post, I’ll leave this issue alone for now. Even still, the mere fact that cloud computing companies are selling personal data has many dangerous implications – for us all. For me, it is yet another reason why I hate cloud computing.

Cloud Computing – I Hate It!

I stated in a earlier blog post my dislike of cloud computing. Here’s a glaring example of why I feel this way:

Earlier this week T-Mobile announced that personal data stored on Sidekick phones may have been completely lost due to a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. T-Mobile also advised Sidekick customers to not power down their phones because any personal data still on them will be lost. In short, the Danger/Sidekick platform backed up user’s personal data over the Internet or in the cloud. If something went wrong with the user’s phone, they simply retrieved the backup from the cloud. A seemingly fool proof concept, until something like a server failure throws a monkey wrench into your conceptual machinery.

What is worrisome to me is all the current rage about cloud computing and how safe it is. For example, I have been hearing radio commercials with voice talent from famous personalities touting the benefits of software that will backup your computer via the Internet. These commercials make it seem that your backed up data is completely safe and sound – just waiting to be recovered if disaster strikes. Moreover, the sense is given that you are an idiot if you don’t back up your computer this way.

What the commercials don’t tell you is that nothing is completely safe. As the owners of T-Mobile Sidekicks are finding out, a cloud computing data center can have a server failure – thereby sending your data to irretrievable data heaven. No matter how safe a company says its cloud computing facilities are, they can be susceptible to data loss. Which, consequently, if a data failure on the magnitude of T-Mobile’s happened to your business – it could spell doom for you and your business.

The other issue which is not being discussed is security. With cloud computing, someone else has access to your data. Again, no matter how safe cloud computing is touted to be, a security breach can happen. It may be just some bored technician taking a wayward peek at your kid’s baby pictures or it could be a life altering hacking attack where someone absconds with your personal data. What ever way it happens, we will all wake up one day to the news of a massive security breach occurring at one of these major backup companies. When (not if) that news comes out, I can guarantee that the users of that hacked cloud computing service will feel as terrified as Marian Crane did in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

If you’re considering the cloud computing route for something like a backup to your data on your computer, think long and hard before making that move. Think also about all the ramifications to you if something goes wrong at the data center that has your backed up data. I don’t know about you, but cloud computing is just not a option for me – and I don’t know if it ever will be.