Cloud Computing May Draw Government Action 119
snydeq brings us this excerpt from InfoWorld:
"Cloud computing will soon become an area of hot debate in Washington, as the increasing popularity of cloud-based services is putting pressure on policy makers to answer tough questions on the privacy and security of data in the cloud. For example: Who owns the data that consumers store on the network? Should law enforcement agencies have easier access to personal information in the cloud than data on a personal computer? Do government procurement regulations need to change to allow agencies to embrace cloud computing? So far, US courts have generally ruled that private data stored in the cloud doesn't enjoy the same level of protection from law enforcement searches that data stored on a personal computer does, said Ari Schwartz, COO of the Center for Democracy and Technology. 'I do think government has an almost infinite ability to screw up things when they can't see the future,' former Bill Clinton tech policy adviser Mike Nelson added. 'We have to have leadership that believes in empowering users and empowering citizens.'"
Asking the wrong questions... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Physical storage vs. virtual storage? (Score:5, Interesting)
That said, I do like the lock-on-public-storage-space analogy the GP invokes, especially since our government seems to increasingly have a hard time remembering what the Constitution is.
Other than convenience, are there real reasons to use/trust cloud computing -- that is, to trust offsite storage with critical information?
Re:Physical storage vs. virtual storage? (Score:4, Interesting)
Generally speaking the government doesn't want you having any privacy whatsoever so their automatic assumption is that you don't have rights unless the courts force them to acknowledge them. I don't think that the EFF and the ACLU are going to sit idle on this but lately the government (Dem controlled mind all you Obama-will-fix-everything believers) has been passing very repressive legislature. I fully expect there to be a lot more legislature in the pipes on this in the near future. None of it in our (working class) favor, of course.
Unfortunately, the Government wants to do away with the constitution. This is why it is important to support the EFF, ACLU, and others in order to protect the constitution.
Easy questions. (Score:5, Interesting)
Who owns the data that consumers store on the network?
The customers.
Should law enforcement agencies have easier access to personal information in the cloud than data on a personal computer?
No.
Do government procurement regulations need to change to allow agencies to embrace cloud computing?
Only if they pick the wrong answers for 1 and 2.
Clinton adviser? (Score:5, Interesting)
What the hell, I'll go for this one.
The Clinton administration's opposition to encryption technology has made it vastly easier for governments to spy on their citizens, by slowing the adoption of encryption into core internet data communications.
Even John Ashcroft opposed their restrictions (though these days he has a different attitude towards government powers).
So spare me the crocodile tears.
If you want your data to be secure, you better own, host, store, and secure it yourself. No major corporation is going to protect you from governmental powers, and you really wouldn't want them to have that power. At least the government is theoretically accountable to you in some way.
As much as I like Google and Yahoo etc, you can't get the same kind of accountability from them you can from the local dogcatcher.
Re:Physical storage vs. virtual storage? (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the biggest reasons my employer let me switch their file downloads from their dedicated server to Amazon S3 is reliability (the other being cost). With our own dedicated server we have to take care of hard drive failures, manage service uptime, and so on. Amazon takes care of all that stuff for us.
Re:Physical storage vs. virtual storage? (Score:3, Interesting)
I've never been a fan of the ACLU's methods. They seem to support whatever cause is in the media at the moment rather than the issues that actually need to be addressed.
The term 'Cloud computing' is poor (Score:2, Interesting)
Can't anyone come up something better? How about 'web software'? Jeez.
You have a problem though... (Score:3, Interesting)
Republicans have strayed from their "less government" standpoint and are in bed with big business in general, but particularly resource-barron and credit industries.
Democrats, however, are not only doing what the republicans do, but are traditionally (and actually) in bed with hollywood.
You have two choices, strychnine or ricin...
Personally, I'm actually leaning toward the republicans simply because they have so many people they're already sold out to, they may not get around to giving their handouts to the anti-internet crowds.