All hail cloud computingSince the early 2010’s, the computer industry has been slowly and methodically steering people away from the concepts of control of the possession of their information; photos, music, word processor documents, spreadsheets, etc., possession of their own software, and possession of powerful desktop computers toward the “convenience” of “cloud computing” on less-powerful, less capable mobile devices.
To the cloud, from the cloudIt began with data storage. The convenience of “cloud” storage lets you access your files from any place, provided, of course, that you have a device with mobile or Internet access via wireless or other services (cable, DSL, etc.). Most storage services are free, up to a limited storage amount. If you want more storage space you have to pay for it. You also have to agree to “terms of service” in order to use these services and access your information.
Back in the day, when people stored their information on their local devices, they had complete control over access and did not have to connect to a mobile or Internet service. The only costs incurred were the local devices and the electricity required to power them. The only storage limits were the physical media storing the information. And you didn’t have to agree to a contract to access your files.
Many people are blindly and gladly accepting this “cloud” concept in the name of convenience.
But most do not stop to consider some very disturbing consequences that come with this “convenience.”
The “cloud” is in control, not you.
Once you place your files “in the cloud,” you have given up control of them. You are at the mercy of the cloud provider to access your information under the terms of their agreement you consented to. Once you create or upload files to a cloud service — which is really just one or more network servers storing your files in a directory on a hard drive, and possibly mirrored on other devices — they reside there forever. Even if you delete a file in your cloud account, the service retains backup copies.
If the service goes down, so does your file access.
You are at the mercy of your mobile or Internet provider and the cloud service provider to access your cloud accounts. If you are in an area with no mobile service you are not going to be connected. If you are using a device that connects to the Internet and your provider’s service goes down you are not going to be connected during that downtime. And even if you have mobile, wireless, and Internet access, if the cloud service provider goes down you will not be connected to your files while they are down. All cloud providers claim near-100% uptime (99.99999% usually), but cloud services depend on computers, and the machines, and the electricity powering them, can fail.
And there is the very real threat of “cyber-terrorism” that can render not only a cloud service inoperable, but entire regions. If a region is attacked and rendered inoperable for hours, or even days, you will not have access to your files.
But one of the most disconcerting possibilities of all is that of the cloud service being shut down permanently due to financial or legal circumstances. If that occurs, it may happen without any notice and you may or may not be able to retrieve your files.
Turning your “smart” device into a “dumb” terminal.
There is also a movement to make applications — and even your operating systems — accessible via “the cloud” instead of having them installed on your local devices. This takes more control away from you and makes you dependant on services to perform your computing needs. Email was one of the first applications to be accessible online before the term “cloud” was coined (it was called “Web mail”). Today, email can be accessed via mobile and Internet accounts.
Some applications, such as “office” software (word processer, spreadsheet, presentation), are offered online. Some are “free,” but have a limited set of features available for use. If you need to create documents requiring advanced features free online versions do not have, you have to pay for access to “full feature” software. Most online applications allow you to download documents you create to your device, but save a copy on their “cloud” — whether you want them to or not. This is convenient if you need to create or edit general documents from a remote location, but that copy lives on forever in the cloud.
Do you want sensitive documents existing on various cloud servers? Do you like not having the control to delete files?
Just like cloud access to your files, if all of your software — and your operating system — is online, and any of the above-mentioned services go down, you won’t be able to use that software, and possibly even your device, during those down times.
So, how is the convenience thing looking now?
These are only the control and access aspects. At this point, if you “go with the flow,” now the “cloud” owns your data and controls your ability to access it. If you are the model “modern” user, now your files have left your local devices to reside on network servers. And if you are an average “cloud” user, you have never stopped to consider these life-altering concepts, and as long as you can access your files you don’t care…until you lose your connection. Then what do you do?
It’s not just about control, it’s about the money.
If you think the movements to gain control of your files and your software use are just about control, that is not the case. If you want to store vast amounts of data on “the cloud,” you have to use a paid service. If you want to back up your files to a cloud service, you have to pay for it. If you want to use specialized online software, you have to use a paid service. It’s all about the money. The industry is trying to move everything to paid services.
It’s not enough anymore to just sell you a device, an operating system, a software program, a game, a storage device — the industry of today wants you making payments again and again to make your devices dependant on online connections to function, to access your files, to back up your files, to use software, and on and on ad infinitum. Just look at the “extras” you have to pay for over and over just to keep playing your favorite game on your smartphone or tablet.
But wait…there’s more.
How secure are files you have no control over?
Back in the day, when you stored your files locally on your devices, the only security you had to be concerned with was what people locally around you to allow access to what files, if any. If others used your devices that may have had some or all of your files residing on them you may have restricted access to your local computer account and/or password-protected your sensitive or personal files. The possibility of your devices being “hacked” via the Internet were remote because most likely you used a provider that had some security measures in place and you most likely used some form of security software on your Internet-connected computers.
It was so simple back then. In the early days of computing and file storage, viruses didn’t exist. There was no need for “anti-virus” or “anti-malware” software because most people played nice — for a while. Then came “malware.” We had to put some kind of software on our systems to scan for others’ malicious attempts to make our lives more difficult. Then came the Internet. Now we had to be much more vigilant against malware because we risked being infected every time we went online.
And if that wasn’t enough to deal with, then came the “hackers.” In addition to receiving infected files and being infected by visiting websites with malicious code, we also had grown accustom to the paranoia of the possibility of one or more malicious sources accessing our systems to steal information or just to disrupt or disable the system. Cybersecurity for legacy systems became crucial as these older infrastructures struggled to adapt to new threats.
Take all that anti-malware angst, which some people today think is “normal” life because they have been conditioned to it, and add the X-factors of the “cloud.” While cloud providers may or may not tout their efforts to provide security, they are a network of computer servers connected to other networks via mobile and wireless networks, the Internet, and possibly through other connections. Anything that is connected can be accessed — remotely and locally. Remote access brings us back to malicious intruders. Hackers and cyber-terrorists are always trying to breach networks. Regardless of security, any cloud service can be breached. This means it is possible for someone to violate your “secure” cloud account and access your files without your knowledge, never mind your consent. Then consider that the data centers of these cloud services have to be maintained by people who periodically service the computer infrastructure. There are people at these centers that have access to the accounts residing on the servers. These people can access any files in any account. A malicious data center employee could do anything with anyone’s files.
Are you still “secure” in your feeling of convenience about cloud computing?
With all this being said, there is still another factor to consider.
Powering you down, and dumbing you down. And making you feel good about both.
For years, many have been predicting the impending doom of the desktop computer. Mobile devices are more — here comes that word again — convenient. In some ways, yes, they are. But mobile devices cannot do everything a desktop computer can, much as many would like to believe. Mobile devices can enhance the computing experience by providing mobile and remote functions, but consider trying to do the following on a mobile phone or tablet:
– Creating large-scale CAD drawings
– Programming software
– Working with very large word processor documents (hundreds or thousands of pages)
– Working with very large spreadsheet documents (thousands of rows, hundreds of columns, multi-sheets)
– Working with very large databases (multiple relation tables, thousands of multi-field records)
These are just a few of the many things that desktop and laptop computers can do that mobile devices were never designed for. While many people are throwing away their desktops and laptops for that smartphone or tablet, most of them are only using them for phone, Internet, and amateur video and photography. Those people don’t need a desktop with the power that some computer mainframes had 40 years ago. But that doesn’t mean there are not other people and businesses that do want and need that computing power. As long as there is a need for high-end computing there will be a need for the hardware and the software to perform it.
While many people are jumping on the mobile bandwagon, they are actually giving up computing power for mobile convenience. More powerful desktops in the public consumer market are being taken out — replaced with less powerful, less functional mobile devices. But the most frightening aspect of this entire topic is that the people are happy to succumb to it and don’t realize what is really happening to them. They are having a device that has such great potential taken away from them, having their options limited to less intellectual possibilities, and are being dumbed down from advanced software to texting, social media and Internet videos, and video games.
This is a movement to take away powerful computing technology, and the intelligence that comes from using it, from the general public consumer. It is evident in the way operating systems are moving away from being the support for powerful desktops to downsizing to accommodate the lesser functions of smartphones and tablets.
What many people don’t realize is this is a dangerous turning point in the true freedom of the common person being able to use advanced computing. Application programs are being replaced with social media and video games. Freedom and control are being taken away from people and being replaced with high-tech eye candy. If this doesn’t scare you, just take a look at the people next to you staring, eyes-glazed, mindlessly into the screens they are holding up to their faces — their only interruption being to enter their credit card numbers over and over to keep their heads in the “clouds.”
How do you feel about the evolution of consumer computing?