On Monday 29 August 2011 21:07:42 Chris Dennis wrote:
> On 08/29/2011 07:25 PM, e-mail phillip.chandler wrote:
> > One *massive* bonus of Android was getting the replacement, and all
> > my contacts and appointments (via google) were resynced with the
> > greatest of ease.
> >
> > Im more concerned about security on cloud computing. you have no idea
> > who is managing the computers with your information. You have no idea
> > where they are. What protections may or may not be in place to make sure
> > your information is not stolen or disclosed or that it does not
> > accidentally disappear.
>
> I'm either paranoid or just awkward, but I'd rather keep control of my
> data than let Google have it.
For me, it's a cost/benefit analysis. The benefits are that it makes
things easy if I sync data with Google. The cost is the fallout from
having that data stolen/misused.
I'd rather my contacts list wasn't accessed by random people (and so
would people in my contacts list), but there's nothing there which is
seriously damaging if it gets out.
Similarly, my calendar events aren't going to cause a big headache if
they get out. It's possible that someone could do something with
information about when I'm out of the house, but it's a low risk and
the advantages of being able to view my calendar at home, on my phone
and from my desktop at work (and share with friends and family) far
outweigh the risks. Posting to a list like this and saying I'm going
to be at a LUG event can be just as risky.
My photos are in Picasa - most of them are public anyway (CC licensed),
those which are in private albums aren't going to cause embarrasement if
they get out (just photos of family etc, which I'd prefer to be private).
So, again, advantage of off site backup plus being able to share easily
with friends, versus the low risk and low cost of something going wrong.
Sourcecode - well, most of my big projects are on Sourceforge anyway,
so that's all public (and 'backed up' to SF's svn repositories).
Really private data, such as banking details, legal documents etc are
encrypted and backed up to Amazon's cloud. There's a low risk of them
being stolen, but then they're encrypted anyway. And I don't need them
on my phone/tablet.
I'm far more concerned about people breaking into my house and taking
data that way (or stealing my phone), than I am about what may happen
to data I'm keeping in the cloud. I'd rather keep control of my data
as well, but the advantages for me of using service providers now
outweigh the time/effort of doing it all myself.
--
Be seeing you,
Sam.
