Hi Class,
Doug Johnson’s article "Computing in the Clouds" did a great job pointing out the positive side of cloud computing, however, he seemed to have a disturbingly lax and careless view of cloud computing’s potentially negative aspects. He brings up several good points to ponder about these risks, but his wording conveys an unconcerned attitude, almost as if he is mentioning them just to confirm to readers that they are nothing to worry about.
Doug Johnson’s article "Computing in the Clouds" did a great job pointing out the positive side of cloud computing, however, he seemed to have a disturbingly lax and careless view of cloud computing’s potentially negative aspects. He brings up several good points to ponder about these risks, but his wording conveys an unconcerned attitude, almost as if he is mentioning them just to confirm to readers that they are nothing to worry about.
One example of Mr. Johnson’s lax attitude was clear in his
statement regarding file privacy. He uses
Google as an example and notes several points about their official privacy
practices. Although he does admit that “who
gets access to what is getting more granular all the time”, his solution to any
potential breach of privacy is simply to live, as he puts it, “sin-free”. The big picture he’s missing is that the documents
we create for business or in education contain huge amounts of personal or
confidential data. It can be anything
from financials, to new product developments, to personal data about students. Okay, so he abstains from making uncouth
statements or sinful confessions through Gmail.
But what about internal reports containing personal information on
children or their families? How could
their safety or future be impacted by documents leaked into the wrong hands? It’s easy for a corporation like Google to
create a code of ethics, but it’s up to the employees of that corporation to
uphold those ethics. In addition, hacking
has recently plagued countless large companies that assumed they were bastions
of best security practices.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the potential gains of cloud
computing are enormous. It has already
been a great boon to organizations and individuals that need or desire
low-cost, flexible, compatible and portable applications for creating, maintaining
and sharing documents. I am just
hesitant to jump blindly onto any new bandwagon without thoughtfully analyzing
the dangers involved.
Melissa
Melissa
Hi Melissa
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that your take away from this article was that there are very personnal and legal documents that must be saved in a more confidential medium.
Every company is jumping on the cloud wagon and I think its important for all of us to realize that saving documents via clouds should be nonconfidential items only. But saving items that are replacable will be nice to not use up computer space.
Have a good weekend, Alison Disque
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI agree that this article focuses too much on the positive and he really does disregard the negative aspects that keep so many people from moving to the cloud. It seems to be a cost-efficient method to bring to schools. Since it is faster students can get more done during class and since you can work anywhere as long as there is internet connection, then students can finish at home. However, I would have liked him to address more of the issues concerning privacy and security because they are the main issues stopping people from using the cloud. I suppose if we are conscience of the way in which we save our files that the cloud is a decent option.
Thanks
Brooke Gerrard