SysAdmins Log

So, with Google’s recent release of their “Chrome OS” (CR-48) laptops to some 60,000 (supposed) lucky people, there’s been more and more buzz about the cloud on the Internet.

This laptop (reviewed by a colleague of mine on his blog here) is essentially a Linux OS which opens a Chrome browser up for you and that is pretty much it. This laptop is relying on you having connectivity to the cloud to work, well everyone knows that connectivity is not always possible, and without it, this machine is only useful as a doorstop and nothing more.  Granted there aren’t too many places out of reach of cell signals or some form of wireless, and those kinds of places are not what Google has intended them to exist in, but its still an important thing to note.

I can see where for some things, such as application hosting, development, the cloud just represents a more unified virtual private hosting situation, where your “application” or system is allowed to consume more or less resources at more or less cost to you. This unique flex room, makes the cloud appealing to many whose systems scale in resource usage vastly based on demand which may be seasonal or sporadic. (Amazons AWS cloud was first built to help them support the holiday rush on their website and sell off the extra computing power on the off seasons)

However, for the cloud services being used by normal users, it can be more of a privacy risk (*puts on tin-foil hat*). Take Google Apps for example, that data is not protected by any sort of laws, so if the government wants it (heaven knows why they would want to read your homework papers, etc) they can just call up Google and ask for the data, now granted Google might say no and require a subpoena there’s no reason they have to notify you immediately (see EFF here, this link is a little out of date, since the part about email has since changed, but the rest is still accurate) so then you get a letter days later saying “Surprise we took a copy of all your Google Docs and contacts since we thought you were up to no good *tsk tsk sounds*” and then what do you do?

Well you get the general idea… So why is there this push for doing everything in the cloud? You got me! What if you write all your term papers on the cloud, you stayed up all night typing it, its all saved and in the morning your Internet goes out, thanks <insert shady ISP name here> (assuming you can’t tether w/ your phone, we are assuming your not one of those techy people), now you might be able to print it at school.. assuming you aren’t already late for class, and on and on…

Maybe I am just old-fashioned (or paranoid, take your pick), I would always have a copy on my local system, and anything that goes into the cloud gets encrypted (or doesn’t stay very long), it doesn’t matter whether you have anything to hide or not, its just a matter of whether or not you truly want privacy, some people are indifferent, I am not one of those people, just my nature really.  So before you get too excited about your Chrome laptops and decide to use them for everything, remember where your data is going and who can see it.  *takes off tin-foil hat*

Cheers!